BDCHHOLZ 
FAMILY 


SECOND  PART 


SKETCHES  OF 
BERLIN  LIFE 


THE 


SKETCHES   OF  BERLIiV  LIFE. 


By  Julius  Stinde. 

Translated  from    the   Forty-ninih    German   Edition. 

In  Two   Parts.     Each,    1  2mo,  $1.25. 


"We  cannot  recall  another  work,  fictitious  or  olher,  in  which 
the  middle  class  is  viewed  from  the  inside.  The  author  does 
not  as  an  outsider  satirize  the  class  he  describes  ;  he  merely  lauc^hs 
at  such  follies  or  absurdities  of  individual  members  of  it  as,  in  life, 
their  friends  would  see  and  smile  over." — T/ie  Nation. 

"  The  author's  hilarity  is  always  cheerful  and  elevatincf,  and  for 
unadulterated  humor,  for  quiet,  unobtrusive  fan,  commend  us  to 
this  famous  book." — Hartfoi-d  Post. 

"Not  Berlin  alone,  but  the  g^reat  Ch.incellor  himself,  have  ex- 
pressed their  delight  over  the  Buchholz  family.  All  those  quiet,  in- 
nocent household  festivals  which  delight  honest  Germans  are  pleas- 
antly described.  Herr  Stinde's  pen  is  of  the  quiet,  pleasant  kind, 
and  never  coarse,  and  he  is  the  best  representative  of  tixie  German 
humor  we  have  yet  seen." — New  York  '/tines. 


THE 


BUCHHOLZ   FAMILY 


SECOND   PART 


SKETCHES  OF  BERLIN  LIFE 


BY 

JULIUS    STINDE 


TRANSLATED,  FROM   THE   (FORTY-SECOND)   EDITION  OP 
THE  GERMAN  ORIGINAL 

BY 

L.    DORA    SCHMITZ 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1887 

\Authorized  Translation^ 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Educational  Plans 

•            .        I 

The  Press  Festival 

•            • 

II 

DoiMESTic  Art    . 

.            . 

24 

A  Regatta 

. 

35 

In  the  Green  Grunewald 

. 

49 

The  Portrait    . 

. 

59 

New  Connections 

. 

73 

The  Christmas  Fair    . 

. 

91 

Fashionable  Society    . 

,            , 

104 

On  the  War-Trail 

, 

"5 

Betti 

, 

129 

The  First  of  April 

. 

143 

How  it  all  Came  to  be  so  I 

)ifferent 

155 

The  Eventful  Thursday 

. 

165 

The  School  of  Life    . 

. 

179 

Trials      .... 

. 

194 

My  Son-in-Law  . 

. 

214 

Uncle  Fritz 

. 

222 

How  They  all  are 

, 

231 

THE  BUCHHOLZ  FAMILY. 

PART  II. 


EDUCATIONAL  PLANS. 

As  long  as  my  daughter  Emmi  was  still  unmarried,  I 
did  believe  that  she  might  become  happy  with  the 
man  who,  according  to  my  idea,  Providence  had  se- 
lected for  her.  But  now  I  think  the  contrary,  and  can 
only  suppose  that  human  life  develops  as  many  varie- 
ties as  the  balsams  we  sow  in  flower-pots.  We  fancy 
that  only  well-developed,  rosy-red  blossoms  will  come 
up;  but  when  they  do  appear,  some  of  the  flowers  are 
of  a  most  ordinary  shade  of  violet,  others  are  red,  but 
single  ;  whereas  not  more  than  two  or  three  show 
blossoms  of  the  kind  described  in  the  catalogue. 
Some  do  not  come  up  at  all,  or  if  they  do,  the  buds 
drop  off  before  opening. 

Or  is  it  that  good  fortune  is  not  big  enough  for 
every  one  to  have  a  slice,  such  as  I  and  my  Carl  have 
had  ?  Why"-  is  it  that  we  are  happy  and  content  ? 
Because  Carl  would  most  assuredly  have  had  the 
highest  respect  for  his  mother-in-law,  had  it  not  been 
that  she  died  before  our  marriage.  I  could  swear  that 
Carl  would  have  acted  very  differently  towards  her 
from  what  Dr.  Wrenzchen  does  towards  me.  I  cannot, 
indeed,  complain  that  he  is  wanting  in  polite  speeches 
and  phrases,  but  the  more  pleasant  his  manner,  the 
more  suspicious  he  appears  to  me  ;  for,  according  to 
what  cultured  people  say,  those  who  excuse,  accuse 


Of  Innate  Privileges, 


themselves.  If  he  meant  all  he  said,  he  would  at  once 
have  packed  off  that  cook  of  his,  when  she  was  not 
only  rude,  but  insolent  to  me.  A  mother-in-law  has  as 
much  right  in  the  kitchen  of  her  newly-married  daugh- 
ter as  the  daughter  herself,  especially  when  the  young 
wife  is  inexperienced  and  is  about  to  give  her  first 
party  ;  for  although  there  may  be  no  question  about 
treating  the  guests  to  a  surprise,  they  ought  at  all 
events  to  be  made  to  feel  some  degree  of  respect  for 
the  household  arrangements.  Therefore  when  a  cook 
hinders  a  mother-in-law  in  this  duty,  planting  herself 
in  front  of  the  hearth,  and,  by  making  use  of  uncul- 
tivated language,  forces  the  mother  of  her  mistress  to 
concentrate  herself  backwards  out  of  the  room,  then,  I 
say,  it  is  the  sacred  duty  of  the  son-in-law  at  once  to 
fetch  in  the  police,  and  to  have  the  wretched  creature 
locked  up  with  all  possible  speed.  Now  as  the  doctor 
did  not  have  this  done,  I  know  well  enough  what  to 
think  of  his  polite  speeches  and  complacent  remarks  ; 
these  may  be  said  to  be  the  brazen  shield  of  the  arch- 
fiend, by  means  of  which  he  wishes  to  thrust  me  off, 
that  I  may  not  have  an  opportunity  of  telling  him  the 
truth  to  his  face.  But  he  will  find  all  that  useless  ; 
opportunities  cannot  be  thrust  aside  for  ever.  When 
once  they  do  come,  they  come  with  the  certainty  of 
the  multiplication  table.     And  then  we  shall  see  ! 

I  had  at  first  resolved  never  again  to  cross  the  thres- 
hold on  the  other  side  of  which  I  had  been  so  shame- 
fully treated  without  provocation.  On  second 
thoughts,  however,  it  struck  me  :  before  Frau  Buch- 
holz  submits  to  be  chased  away  by  a  fury  in  the 
kitchen,  things  would  need  to  be  very  different.  One 
does  not  so  readily  give  up  one's  innate  privileges.  Of 
course,  when  I  go  to  the  house  I  take  no  more  notice 
of  that  gook  than  if  she  were  mere  air  ;  not  a  look  do  I 


and  the   Three  Senses. 


give  her,  not  a  "good-day,"  not  even  a  condescending 
smile  ;  I  pass  her  by  as  if  enshrouded  in  icy  disdain, 
like  a  wet  bathing-sheet.  And  she — in  her  thick- 
skinnedness — takes  absolutely  no  notice  of  all  this. 

Emmi  is  always  immensely  pleased  when  I  look  in 
of  an  afternoon  to  coffee.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  is  at  that 
time  out  on  his  rounds,  and  we  can  chat  away  undis- 
turbed about  things  that  men  can't  in  the  least  under- 
stand. What  astonishes  me  is  that  the  girl  has  so 
quickly  adapted  herself  to  her  position  as  a  doctor's 
wife.  She  writes  down  the  names  of  all  the  people 
upon  whom  he  has  to  call,  and  takes  great  interest  in 
his  different  patients;  at  times  even  she  does  not 
hesitate  to  make  a  bo\vl  of  strong  beef-tea  when 
the  case  is  urgent,  and  a  spoonful  of  soup  is  more 
needed  than  a  spoonful  of  medicine.  It  is  only  on 
Thursdays,  when  the  doctor  goes  to  his  Medical  So- 
ciety— where  he  plays  skat  till  midnight — that  Emmi 
feels  lonely  and  forsaken.  "  Child,"  said  I,  "  this  is  a 
misery  that  unfortunately  you  may  have  to  endure  to 
your  dying  day;  but  still  you  may  consider  yourself 
lucky,  for  there  are  husbands  far  more  inconsiderate 
than  yours,  in  fact,  who  have  but  three  senses,  like 
bears — those  of  eating,  grumbling,  and  sleeping. 
You  ought  never  from  the  first  to  have  tolerated  those 
Thursday-evening  goings-out.  I  am  afraid  now  that  it 
may  be  too  late  to  educate  him." 

"If  only  I  were  not  so  utterly  alone,"  said  Emmi, 
"  you  cannot  think  how  wearisome  the  hours  are  when 
I  have  to  wait  for  him." — "  Do  you  stay  up  for 
him?" — "  No,  Franz  will  not  have  that!" — "So  he 
sends  you  to  bed,  does  he  ?  " — "  He  thinks  it  better  for 
me." — "  And  all  your  worry  about  his  not  coming  home 
counts  for  nothing,  I  suppose  ?  Or  can  you  go  to  sleep 
with  an  easy  mind,  while  he  turns  night  into  day  with 


About    Thursday  Evenings 


his  beer-drinking  chums  ?  I  couldn't  !  "  "  Mamma, 
what  is  it  you  have  against  Franz  ?  " — "  I  ?  Nothing 
whatever,  except  these  Thursday  evenings  and  the 
cook."  "  Oh,  don't  bring  up  that  old  dispute,  mamma; 
the  girl  has  had  her  scolding  and  will  not  forget  her- 
self again.  As  to  Franz,  he  bargained  for  these  Thurs- 
day evenings  from  the  very  outset,  and  I  agreed." — 
"  If  you  are  happy  as  things  are,  it  is  not  for  me  to 
interfere  ;  you  must  know  best  what  your  nerves  can 
stand.  But  what  is  the  use  of  my  talking  my  tongue 
sore,  if  you  will  neither  see  nor  listen." 

Emmi  was  silent  ;  she  then  asked  :  ''What  harm  is 
there  in  his  spending  one  evening  in  the  week  with  his 
friends  ?  I  cannot  have  him  gilded  over  and  rolled  up 
in  wadding." — "  Is  that  a  tone  in  which  to  speak  to 
me,  Emmi?" — "Mamma,  you  must  remember  I  am  a 
married  woman  now,  and  do  not  need  to  account  to 
any  one  but  my  husband  for  what  I  do.  You  know  I 
love  you  dearly,  but  I  do  not  like  to  be  treated  as  if  I 
were  still  a  school-girl." — "  And  can  you  not  under- 
stand that  I  am  acting  only  for  your  good?"  I  ex- 
claimed, "do  you  think  I  do  not  notice  that  you  are 
not  as  happy  as  you  ought  to  be  ?  Do  you  mean  to 
say  you  look  forward  to  your  Thursday  evenings  ? " 

Emmi  shook  her  head  almost  imperceptibly  ;  but  I 
saw  it.  After  a  time  she  said  cheerily:  "  I  mean  to  get 
a  little  dog  ;  it  will  be  a  companion  for  me." 

Just  as  I  was  about  to  make  a  reply,  a  visitor  was 
announced.  It  was  little  Frau  Lehhiann,  the  lawyer's 
wife,  with  whom  Emmi  had  become  rather  intimate; 
and  I  must  confess  I  like  her  very  much  myself, 
although  she  is  rather  inclined  to  be  scraggy.  She 
looks  nothing  by  the  side  of  my  Emmi,  for  Emmi  has 
developed  beyond  all  expectation — her  full  round  arms 
give  her  quite  a  stately  appearance;  still,  little  Frau 


and  Young  Dogs,  5 

Lehmann  is  very  bright,  and  when  once  she  gets  over 
her  shyness  before  strangers,  looks  very  neat  and 
pleasing.     Still  she  never  was  what  we  call  pretty. 

When  Frau  Lehmann  heard  of  Emmi's  wish  to  have 
a  dog,  she  said:  "  I  advise  you  not;  a  young  dog  snaps 
at  everything,  and  lays  hold  of  the  newest  things  first. 
We  used  to  have  one,  but  in  less  than  a  week  it  had 
ruined  two  pairs  of  embroidered  slippers,  and  a  rug 
that  had  been  given  to  us;  and  then  if  the  creature 
was  left  alone  of  a  night  in  the  passage,  it  evidently 
got  home-sick,  for  it  howled  in  the  most  piteous  way. 
My  husband  had  to  get  out  of  bed  and  give  it  a  beat- 
ing to  make  it  change  its  tune." — "The  poor  crea- 
ture !  "  exclaimed  Emmi. — "  If  a  dog  howls  or  makes 
a  noise,  it  has  to  be  taught  better,"  I  put  in;  "for 
what  men  require,  that  they  must  have.  Did  you  get 
the  animal  to  behave  better  ?  "  I  asked. — "  We  had  a 
good  deal  of  fun  with  it  afterwards,"  Frau  Lehmann 
answered;  "  but  when  our  first  child  was  born,  we  got 
rid  of  it.  It  is  not  good  to  let  children  and  dogs  play 
together,  dogs  are  apt  to  have  diseases.  You  can  ask 
your  husband  about  this,  Frau  Wrenzchen,  he  will 
know." — "  It  could  surely  not  be  dangerous,"  said 
Emmi  curtly,  as  if  not  pleased  with  the  conversation. 
"  I  think  you  had  better  give  up  the  idea  of  having  a 
dog,"  said  I,  in  a  soothing  tone,  "  your  husband  will 
surely  only  be  too  glad  to  remain  at  home,  once  in  a 
way,  to  please  you;  or  you  could  come  to  us  when  you 
feel  wearied  alone — you  know  you  will  alwaj^s  be  re- 
ceived with  open  arms  in  your  old  home."  Emmi 
seemed  to  be  thinking  the  matter  over,  so  I  consid- 
ered it  well  not  to  say  more  at  present,  and  therefore 
turned  to  Frau  Lehmann  with  the  question:  "  Does 
your  husband  go  out  much  of  an  evening  ?" — "  It  de- 
pends," she  replied,  "  he  has   his  club  and  meetings, 


Cockroaches  in  the  Kitchen. 


which  he  cannot  do  without." — "  Have  you  to  wait  up 
for  him  ? " — "  I  used  to  be  silly  enough  to  do  that,  and 
would  keep  looking  at  the  clock  every  five  minutes, 
and  ended  by  having  a  cry  when  it  got  very  late;  but 
now  I  find  no  time  for  watching  and  waiting.  The 
children  are  up  and  about  early  of  a  morning,  and 
they  are  my  little  world,  and  give  me  occupation 
enough.  And  moreover  a  man  must  at  times  have 
an  opportunity  of  discussing  other  matters  than  do- 
mestic worries  and  nursery  affairs,  so,  of  course,  he 
goes  out  of  an  evening  sometimes." 

"  When  I  was  young,  men  did  not  go  out  to  res- 
taurants as  often  as  they  do  nowadays,"  was  my  reply; 
''  but  these  places  are  got  up  in  such  a  luxurious  way 
now,  so  utterly  beyond  the  means  of  the  middle 
classes,  that  men  get  perfectly  spoiled,  and  end  in 
finding  nothing  comfortable  enough  for  them  in  their 
own  homes,  and  in  the  simple  arrangements  there. 
One  ought,  therefore,  to  try  and  prevent  their  going 
out  much;  and,  at  all  events,  when  they  do  go,  it 
ought  to  be  with  their  wives." — "And  are  the  children 
to  be  left  at  home  in  the  nurse's  charge  ?  "  put  in  Frau 
Lehmann,  "  I  do  not  agree  with  you  there.  One  can- 
not trust  these  servant-girls  for  any  length  of  time. 
When  they  know  that  their  master  and  mistress  are 
out  every  evening,  they  think  themselves  at  liberty  to 
do  as  they  please,  and  accept  visits  from  goodness 
knows  who  ;  they  are  even  quite  capable  of  locking 
up  the  house,  and  going  out  for  a  walk  themselves." 

''Have  you  experienced  this  yourself?"  I  asked. — 
"  Oh  yes,"  replied  Frau  Lehmann,  smiling;  "  one  even- 
ing when  we  returned  home  from  a  partyat  an  unusually 
early  hour,  my  husband  actually  caught  a  cockroach 
in  the  kitchen  !  " — "  A  cockroach  !  "  I  exclaimed,  in 
surprise. — "  Yes,  indeed  !   that's  the   nickname   given 


The  Affair  with  the  Soldier. 


to  the  fusilier  guards  from  the  barracks  in  the  Chaus- 
see  Strasse." — "  I  could  tell  you  a  pretty  story  myself 
from  that  quarter,"  I  blustered  out. — ''You,  Mamma?" 
said  Emmi. — "I?  .  .  .  Oh,  no  .  .  .  certainly  not." — I 
felt  that  I  had  turned  scarlet  up  to  my  ears  ;  but  I 
could  not  and  dared  not  tell  Emmi  of  the  affair  with 
the  soldier,  who,  taking  me  for  Jetty,  had  laid  hold  of 
me  in  the  store-room.  Were  Emmi  to  tell  Dr.  Wrenz- 
chen  that  I  had  meant  thereby  to  give  him  an  oppor- 
tunity of  proposing  to  her,  he  would  lose  every  ves- 
tige of  respect  for  me.  I  recovered  myself,  therefore, 
as  quickly  as  possible,  and  said  with  forced  copipo- 
sure  :  "  What  the  story  was,  I  do  not  altogether  re- 
member; moreover,  it  didn't  happen  to  me,  but  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  and  wasn't  very  interesting  after  all." 
— Dark  spots  in  a  human  life  are  indeed  like  rust 
stains  on  a  fireplace,  they  are  for  ever  eating  their 
way  through.  Frau  Lehmann,  who,  thank  God,  was 
in  a  talkative  mood,  started  the  conversation  again  by 
saying  :  "  And  what  airs  they  do  give  themselves  ! 
you  would  hardly  believe  it  possible." 

"  You  need  scarcely  tell  me  that,  dear  Frau  Leh- 
mann," I  replied  quickly  ;  "  for  if  any  one  has  had 
experience  with  servants,  it's  me.  They  are  becoming 
more  high  and  mighty  every  year,  and  would  not 
think  of  wearing  any  dress  that  did  not  come  from 
Gerson's  establishment.  And  one  knows  well  enough 
where  they  get  the  money  from  !  They  make  out 
that  visitors  give  them  gratuities  ;  but  if  they  don't 
find  these  sufficient,  they  take  to  pilfering.  Last  year 
asparagus  was  ridiculously  cheap  ;  but  when  I  sent 
our  servant  marketing  for  me,  the  bundle  always  cost 
a  halfpenny  more  than  when  I  bought  it  myself,  and 
I  can  assure  you  the  stalks  were  none  the  thicker.  If 
one  did  not  forcibly  close  one's  eyes  to  what  goes  on, 


8  About  Servants, 


one    would    never  be   without    the    police    in    one's 
house." 

"  I  find  my  servant  honest  enough,"  said  Frau  Leh- 
mann  ;  "  and  I  should  be  very  well  satisfied  with  her, 
were  she  not  so  wretchedly  difficile  about  her  eating. 
My  husband  is  very  fond  of  meat  cooked  with  veg- 
etables— mutton  with  savoy  or  turnips  when  they  are 
young,  for  instance." — "  My  husband  won't  touch 
them  ;  I  may  once  in  a  way  venture  to  give  him  Tel- 
tow  turnips,  but  he  does  not  much  care  about  them," 
was  my  remark. — "  Or  beef  stewed  with  white  beans, 
with  a  little  vinegar,"  added  Frau  Lehmann  ;  "but 
our  servant  won't  touch  these  dishes,  she  says  she  has 
never  been  accustomed  to  such  eating  in  her  own 
home,  and  yet  her  father  is  only  a  common  labourer 
in  Rixdorf !  " — -"The  truth  is,  that  they  are  all  aiming 
at  something  beyond  their  own  station  in  life,"  I 
replied,  corroborating  Frau  Lehmann's  statement ; 
"and  when  a  girl  nowadays  accepts  a  place  as  a 
servant,  she  comes  as  if  she  were  doing  one  a  favour, 
and  then  laments  to  herself  that  she  did  not  become 
a  pianoforte-player  or  something  of  the  kind.  My 
washerwoman  has  a  daughter  who  is  being  taught  the 
piano,  and  while  the  young  lady  is  drumming  away 
at  a  Reverie,  the  mother  has  washed  three  shirts.  And 
yet  these  people  can  hardly  get  a  wink  of  sleep  for  the 
hunger  that  plagues  them." — "  It's  a  mercy  there's  not 
a  conservatoire  in  Rixdorf  yet,"  said  Frau  Lehmann, 
"  else  my  servant  might  probably  be  musically  in- 
clined as  well.  As  it  is,  I  have  had  to  forbid  all  novel 
reading.  Just  fancy,  she  had  actually  been  subscrib- 
ing for  some  novel  brought  round  by  a  hawker,  and 
for  which  she  had  to  pay  forty  pfennigs  a  week — that 
is  more  than  twenty  marks  a  year!" — "Why,  that's 
more  than  princes  and  barons  give   for  books,"  I  ex- 


and  Inquisitions. 


claimed,  horrified. — "  And  you  can  have  no  idea  how 
abominable  the  book  was  ;  in  the  very  first  chapter 
lime  is  thrown  into  a  foundling's  e}'es  to  burn  it  blind, 
and  this  is  followed  by  murder  and  assassination,  and 
every  conceivable  atrocity.  My  husband  says  such 
reading  has  a  most  injurious  effect  upon  the  morality 
of  the  people." — "And  yet  she  can't  eat  meat  and  veg- 
etables cooked  together,"  I  added. — "  Is  your  servant 
a  reader,  Emmi  ?  "  I  asked,  for  she  seemed  to  have 
be  n  listening  with  but  little  interest,  her  thoughts 
perhaps  occupied  with  other  matters.  "  There  must 
be  some  trouble  in  her  mind,"  thought  I,  "  like  a 
splinter  in  one's  finger,  that  at  last  begins  to  inflame 
and  fester." — "  I  cannot  say  that  I  need  complain 
about  mine,"  she  replied,  evasively.  "  As  long  as  the 
girl  prepares  our  food  as  Franz  likes  it,  and  does  her 
work,  I  have  no  reason  to  find  fault." — "  Of  course 
not,"  I  replied,  somewhat  annoyed,  ''  yours  is  the  beau- 
ideal  of  every  perfection.  Do  not  be  vexed  at  our 
discussing  so  ordinary  a  subject  ;  the  question  about 
servants  was  not  introduced  into  the  world  by  you, 
nor  are  you  likely  to  put  an  end  to  it." — "  I  can't 
think  how  we  got  on  to  the  subject,"  said  little  Frau 
Lehmann,  rather  disconcerted. — "  It  began  with  the 
dog,"  I  replied,  "and  so  Emmi  is  herself  to  blame." 

Frau  Lehmann,  who  must  have  noticed  Emmi's 
abrupt  manner,  now  rose  and  said,  "Do  not  be 
vexed,  my  sweet,  dearest  Frau  Wrenzchen  ; "  and 
with  this  she  laid  her  hand  on  Emmi's  head,  drew  the 
little  pouting  face  to  her,  and  gently  stroked  the  fair, 
golden  hair  and  cheeks  of  my  youngest  child,  who  did 
indeed  at  the  moment  look  a  little  pale.  Emmi 
replied,  "  Well,  I  can't  say  I  take  very  much  pleasure 
in  inquisitions  held  against  servant-girls  !  " — Frau 
Lehmann  smiled,  and  said  jocosely,  "  Next  time,  then, 


10  About  Potatoes  in  their  Skins, 

we'll  discuss  the  weather  ;  or,  better  still,  I'll  bring 
my  boy  with  me,  the  young  jackanapes — he'll  give  us 
enough  to  talk  about.  My  advice  to  you  is  to  get  a 
canary,  like  mine,  it  keeps  the  Vv^hole  house  cheery  ; 
but  I  hope  one  day  before  that  you  will  pop  in  upon  us 
in  a  friendly  way."  Thereupon  "good-byes"  were 
said  and  Frau  Lehmann  went. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you,  Emmi  ?  "  said  I,  when 
the  lady  had  gone. — "  She  is  so  taken  up  with  her  own 
children,"  replied  Emmi,  peevishly  ;  "  and  then,  why 
need  you  have  told  her  about  the  dog?" — "You  did 
not  tell  me  not  to  mention  it!" — "You  might  have 
known  that  I  shouldn't  like  it.  What  have  other 
people  got  to  do  with  my  feeling  lonely  at  home 
sometimes  ?  " 

"  Your  husband  must  positively  be  made  to  sac- 
rifice his  Thursdays  to  you,"  I  replied,  with  decision  ; 
"  and  in  any  case  you  can  arrange  to  spend  the  even- 
ings with  us  when  he  goes  out  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment !  " 

"Without  Franz?" 

"If  he  leaves  you  to  yourself,  you  can  surely  leave 
him  once  in  a  way  !  " 

"  No,  Mamma,  I  will  not  do  that." 

"I  mean  without  any  rudeness  on  your  part,  of 
course,"  I  continued.  "  I  shall  send  you  both  an  in- 
vitation for  next  Thursday,  to  potatoes-in-their-skins 
and  herrings,  which  I  know  he  is  so  fond  of.  The 
following  Thursday  the  Lehmanns  might  invite  you, 
and  so  on,  till  we  get  him  out  of  his  irregular  ways. 
He  must  be  gently  and  imperceptibly  chained  to  th'e 
family.  If  this  proves  unsuccessful  you  must  try  the 
plan  of  leaving  home  yourself  one  evening." 

She  shook  her  head  thoughtfully. — "  Think  over 
what  I  have  said,"  I  added.     "  If  he  does  not  give  in 


and  Editors.  ii 


now,  he  never  will  ;  and  the  little  bit  of  happiness  you 
ought  to  get  out  of  your  lives  will  be  off  before  you 
know  where  you  are.  Think  it  over."  I  then  brought 
my  visit  to  a  close. 

That  same  evening  I  told  Carl  that  I  had  invited 
Dr.  Wrenzcheti  and  Emmi  to  spend  next  Thursday 
evening  with  us.  "  Do  not  be  surprised,  how-ever," 
said  I,  "if  I  have  the  herrings  placed  on  the  table  un- 
divided."— "Why  such  a  new-fangled  idea?"  asked 
Carl,  somewhat  puzzled.  "  It  is  a  delicate  piece  of 
domestic  diplomacy,  Carl,"  was  my  reply,  "by  leaving 
the  herrings  whole.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  will  be  unable  to 
pick  out  all  the  middle  cuts  for  himself,  as  he  did  last 
time  ;  he  will  have  to  eat  the  head  and  tail  bits,  like 
the  rest  of  us." — "  But  supposing  he  likes  the  middle 
cuts  best  ?  You  are  generally  disposed  to  give  your 
fellow-creatures  what  they  like  best,  Wilhelmine." — 
"  I  do,  Carl,  gladlv,  as  you  know  ;  but  in  the  present 
case  it  is  a  matter  of  education.  He's  not  nearly  old 
enough  to  have  nothing:  but  middle  cuts." 


THE  PRESS  FESTIVAL. 

Many  changes  have  occurred  in  favour  of  literature 
since  it  has  risen  to  the  rank  of  a  profession.  This, 
as  we  know,  it  formerly  was  not ;  for  only  on  the 
rarest  occasions  was  anything  produced.  Literature 
was  generally  taken  up  as  a  secondary  occupation.  In 
fact,  it  is  now  no  longer  considered  a  disgrace  to  be- 
long to  it  ;  indeed,  we  find  the  Press  itself  declaring 
that  it  has  become  the  seventh  great  power.  I  must, 
however,  confess  that  I  have  never  yet  met  an  editor 
with  a  crown  on  his  head,  or  with  a  purple  robe  on  in 
place  of  a  great-coat.     It  would  certainly  create  a  sen- 


12  About    White  Neckties. 

sation  were  one  of  them  to  promenade  Unter  den 
Linden,  or  to  go  to  Kranzler's  for  a  cup  of  coffee,  in 
any  such  attire.  Still,  if  one  happens  to  come  into 
personal  contact  with  an  editor  he  makes  a  very  liberal 
impression,  and  seems  opposed  to  all  domineering 
principles,  except  as  regards  what  his  own  paper  may 
have  to  say.  Apart  from  the  steam-press  he  is  like 
any  other  mortal,  and  his  spare  time  is  devoted  to 
amusement. 

Hence  a  Press  Ball  was  announced  ;  and  as  a  fete 
is  always  grander  the  larger  the  number  of  people  that 
attend  it,  tickets  for  non-professional  persons  were 
also  issued.  The  seventh  great  power  might  to  a 
certain  extent  be  said  to  be  giving  its  court  ball  ; 
hence  not  to  attend  the  festival  might  be  said  to  be  an 
act  of  opposition.  Besides  I  had  only  seen  the  Winter 
Garden,  with  its  tropical  plants,  during  a  concert,  and 
had  never  yet  seen  the  adjoining  rooms.  I  was  there- 
fore anxious  to  see  what  sort  of  appearance  the  place 
would  present  on  a  festive  occasion  ;  and  I  must  say 
my  expectations  proved  far  too  moderate  when  I  found 
myseif  face  to  face  with  the  reality.  It  was  superb. 
Up  above  were  the  electric  lights  and  v/reaths  of  roses, 
music  on  both  sides,  and  on  the  exquisite  parquet 
floor  a  large  gathering  of  dancers,  who  might  forth- 
with be  termed  a  very  graceful  company — that  is  to 
say,  the  ladies  more  especially  ;  the  outsides  of  the 
gentlemen  being  distinguished  only  by  the  difference 
in  their  white  neckties  ;  which  were  of  various  shapes, 
of  various  materials,  and  in  various  positions.  Intel- 
lect, which  is  regarded  as  man's  special  ornament,  is 
not  so  much  in  request  at  a  ball  as  good  dancing  ; 
hence  a  nimble-legged  sub-lieutenant  may  eclipse  even 
a  member  of  the  Ministerial  Council,  whose  dignity 
seems  to  have  run  into  his  knee-joints.     The  ladies,  on 


Carl  has  a  Secret  Love-trouble.  13 

the  other  hand,  looked  angelic  in  their  elegant  toilettes, 
and  they  formed  an  eesthetic  contrast  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  party. 

These  were  my  first  thoughts  as  I  entered  the  festive 
rooms  with  Uncle  Fritz.  Carl  would  not  come,  much 
as  I  urged  him  ;  he  made  out  that  he  stood  a  long  way 
off  from  the  literary  circles.  "  Carl,"  said  I  to  him, 
"do  you  not  every  morning  read  your  newspaper? — 
can  you  exist  without  it  ?  Well,  then,  have  you  no 
wish  to  meet  the  gentlemen  who  provide  you  daily 
with  your  mental  food,  face  to  face  ?  You  can  put 
your  subscription-ticket  in  your  button-hole  if  you 
like,  to  show  that  you  belong  to  the  Press  as  a  reading 
member." 

However,  it  was  impossible  to  persuade  him  ;  so, 
being  anxious  myself  to  attend  the  Press  Festival,  I 
asked  Uncle  Fritz  to  accompany  me.  He  agreed  at 
once,  saying  that  as  I  belonged  to  the  profession,  he 
might  surely  venture  to  go.  He  expected,  moreover, 
he  said,  to  enjoy  himself  very  much,  if  only  I  did  not 
bully  him  as  I  did  Carl.  The  answer  he  deserved  for 
that  remark  I  kept  to  myself  at  the  time,  for  fear  of 
frightening  him  from  going  with  me  ;  and  then,  too, 
the  poor  fellow  has  still  that  secret  love-trouble  of  his 
to  bear. 

One  day,  when  an  opportunity  occurred,  I  said  to 
him  that  I  could  not  imagine  anything  more  thankless 
than  when  the  object  of  one's  affection  remained  at 
such  an  unapproachable  distance.  His  reply  to  this 
was  :  "  You  are  wrong,  Wilhelmine,  epistolary  love 
has  its  bright  side  too."  This  showed  me  how  deter- 
mined he  is  not  to  give  up  Erica.  But  my  idea  is  that 
the  grandmother  won't  give  her  to  him. 

My  Carl  had  another  reason  for  declining  to  attend 
the  Press  Festival.     His  friend  Moderow  had  a  cask  of 


14  Special  Brews  and  CorypJiciises. 

some  special  brew  which  he  meant  to  open  that  same 
evening,  and  they  were  all  going  to  meet  to  enjoy  it — 
old  Bergfeldt,  Schramke,  Steinkohlen-Miiller,  and  in 
addition  to  their  usual  party  Dr.  Paber  too,  perhaps. 
So  I  said  :  '"  Well,  then,  you  may  go  ;  for  if  there's  a 
doctor  among  you,  you  will  probably  not  come  to  any 
harm.  But  be  sure  not  to  be  the  last  to  leave,  and 
take  care  not  to  get  under  the  wheels  in  coming  home." 
Betti  was  to  spend  the  evening  at  the  Police-lieuten- 
ant's, where  Mila's  birthday  was  to  be  celebrated;  and 
so  Uncle  Fritz  was  my  only  escort  to  the  circle,  with 
which  I  was  partially  acquainted  as  a  reader,  but 
which  I  had  never  before  met  vis-a-vis. 

When  we  arrived  the  dancing  had  already  begun.  I 
felt  somewhat  overpowered  at  the  sight  of  such  a  large 
gathering  of  people,  all  strange  faces  to  me  ;  for,  of 
course,  I  could  not  know  how  renowned  they  might  be. 

Luckily  I  caught  sight  of  Herr  Kleines,  who  looked 
like  a  mock  attache'  to  an  embassy,  and  I  went  up  to 
him.  "Do  you  know  the  corypheuses  ? "  I  asked. — • 
"  All  of  them,"  he  replied.- — "  Then  point  some  of  them 
out  to  me,"  said  I.  He  answered  that  most  of  them 
were  exactly  like  their  photographs.  That  was  not 
enough  for  me.  When  he  found  that  I  was  not  going 
to  let  him  off,  he  gave  me  his  arm  and  steered  me 
through  the  crowd. 

He  did  apparently  know  a  number  of  the  notabilities, 
but  it  struck  me  that  they  did  not  seem  to  recognise 
him.  He  asked  me  whether  I  had  got  my  autograph 
album.  When  I  said  no,  he  led  me  to  a  Turco-Arabian 
tent,  made  of  real  Persian  carpets,  where  stood  a  gen- 
tleman who  handed  every  lady  a  little  book  in  which 
the  notabilities  had  entered  some  intellectual  remarks, 
in  order  that  they  might  remain  unmolested  during 
the  Festival,  and  thus  able  to  devote  themselves  wholly 


About  the  Ladies    Dresses.  15 

to  the  pleasures  of  the  evening.  For,  indeed,  it  would 
be  irksome  to  any  notability  to  have  to  prove  himself 
a  man  of  intellect  throughout  the  evening.  One 
member  of  the  Committee  had  undertaken  to  distribute 
a  literary  and  poetical  souvenir,  which  was  all  the  more 
troublesome,  as,  every  time  he  presented  a  copy,  he 
had  to  show  the  person  how  it  had  to  be  opened. 
The  lid  had  in  fact  to  be  pushed  aside  to  get  at  the 
contents,  which  were  both  novel  and  surprising. 
Those  persons  who  tried  to  open  the  case  in  the  usual 
way,  at  once  destroyed  the  book,  which  again  was  a 
surprise.  If  all  books  were  made  in  this  fashion,  the 
book  trade  would  take  an  unexpected  rise  ;  and  hence 
the  novelty  deserves  all  praise,  for,  of  course,  the  ob- 
ject of  the  Press  is  to  encourage  progressive  develop- 
ment. 

The  dresses  of  the  ladies,  which  I  could  examine 
more  leisurely  when  I  began  to  feel  more  at  my  ease, 
were  simply  magnificent.  There  were  velvets  in  red, 
in  blue,  in  black,  all  embroidered  with  gold,  and  bro- 
caded silks  in  the  most  marvellous  patterns  edged 
with  the  reallest  of  laces  and  flowers.  Pearls  and  dia- 
monds were  as  numerous  as  the  unnumbered  stars  of 
the  Milky  Way.  In  a  word,  the  dancers  there  were  all 
Capitalists. 

Herr  Kleines  declared  that  many  of  them  had  quan- 
tities of  paste  about  them  ;  but  I'm  not  likely  to 
believe  such  calumny.  What  lady  would  venture  to 
face  the  penetrating  gaze  of  the  Press  in  imitation 
jewelry  ? 

As  was  but  natural,  I  met  Dr.  Stinde,  who  seemed 
pleased  to  see  me  again.  We  sat  down  a  little  to  the 
side,  under  the  branches  of  an  orange-tree,  to  which 
real  oranges  had  been  attached  by  wire  in  a  very  cun- 
ning way  ;  this  reminded  us  of  Italy.     "It  is  less  dan- 


1 6  Of  Pluck :d  Pods. 

gerous  here  than  on  Vesuvius,"  said  I  by  way  of 
opening  the  conversation,  which  Dr.  Stinde  imme- 
diately took  up,  and  we  both  revelled  in  the  most  de- 
lightful of  recollections.  When  any  eminent  persons 
passed  by  he  told  me  who  they  were,  what  they  had 
accomplished  v/ith  their  pen,  and  in  what  department 
they  had  distinguished  themselves.  This,  I  need 
hardly  say,  was  instructive.  "  Is  that  anyone  partic- 
ular?" I  asked,  upon  catching  sight  of  a  gentleman 
with  very  expressive  eye-glasses  on  a  boldly-curved 
nose. — "Why,  don't  you  know  Paul  Lindau  ?  " — "I 
had  imagined  him  very  different,"  I  replied;  "he  is 
much  more  interesting  in  looks  than  in  his  books. 
And  I  should  never  have  imagined  him  with  that  ex- 
pression of  suffering  round  about  his  mouth." — "That 
he  probably  owes  to  his  critics." — "Do  they  venture 
to  attack  so  uncommon  an  author?" — "  Critics  never 
hesitate  to  attack  anything  ;  but  it  was  Lindau  who 
showed  them  how  the  thing  was  done." — "  I  do  not 
quite  understand?" — "Well,  dear  Frau  Buchholz," 
said  Dr.  Stinde  after  a  time,  "poets  are  very  much 
like  the  birds  in  a  forest  ;  they  all  sing  in  their  own 
way  as  best  they  can  ;  and  just  as  every  bird  cannot 
be  a  nightingale,  every  poet  cannot  be  a  Schiller  or  a 
Goethe.  What  does  it  matter  that  their  songs  are 
not  all  masterpieces  ?  Well,  Lindau  appeared  on  the 
scenes  one  day,  and  laid  hold  first  of  one  singer  and 
then  of  another,  mercilessly  plucked  out  their  feathers, 
and  left  them  to  hop  off  stark-naked,  amidst  the 
laughter  of  the  rest  of  the  world." — "  That  is  positive 
cruelty  to  animals,"  I  exclaimed,  horrified. — "  It  is 
only  poets  that  are  treated  in  that  way,"  continued 
Dr.  Stinde,  "in  order  that  the  public  may  admire  the 
smartness  of  critics.  And  as  no  one  sees  the  tears 
wept  by  the  despised  poet,  and  no  one  is  troubled  by 


About  Literary  Sharks.  17 

his  secret  sorrow,  Lindau's  little  jokes  were  eagerly- 
welcomed  by  the  public." — "And  is  this  the  kind  of 
joking  that  the  others  learned  from  him  ? " — "  Yes  ; 
and,  in  fact,  they  have  proved  themselves  good  pupils. 
Some  have  devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  becom- 
ing literary  sharks." — "  Without  further  ado  ? " — "  The 
less  ado  the  better.  When  Lindau  himself  began  to 
ponder  and  to  create — when  he,  too,  like  the  other 
birds  of  the  forest,  started  a  song  of  his  own,  they 
made  a  set  at  him  and  plucked  the  brightest  feathers 
out  of  his  body  ;  and  however  much  it  hurt  him  he 
had  to  put  on  an  air  of  pleased  indifference,  for  he 
did  not  wish  to  commit  himself.  Now,  perhaps,  you 
can  account  for  the  melancholy  expression  round 
about  his  mouth.  You  must  have  noticed  that  any 
vexation  first  becomes  evident  by  the  person  letting 
the  corners  of  his  mouth  drop." — "  That's  just  what 
my  Betti  does  at  times,"  I  added,  in  support  of  his 
remark.  And  as  a  Press  Ball  is  the  most  appropriate 
scene  for  discussing  literature,  I  added  :  "  Our  Betti 
has  talent,  but  she  has  not  yet  quite  got  into  the  way 
of  writing  poetry.  If  I  knew  of  any  one  in  the  pro- 
fession who  could  give  her  some  hints,  she  might  ac- 
complish something.  Any  plucking  out  of  feathers 
that  Lindau  might  attempt,  he  would  have  to  settle 
with  me  !  " — "  I  do  not  for  a  moment  doubt  that,"  re- 
plied Dr.  Stinde,  laughing;  "a  few  minutes  ago  I  met 
a  gentleman  who  is  amember  of  the  National  German 
Rhyming  Society,  who  may  possibly  be  the  kind  of 
man  you  want." — "  He  would  only  need  to  teach  Betti 
the  elementary  rules,  and,  perhaps,  afterwards  touch 
up  her  verses.  I  should  think  this  is  all  that  is  nec- 
essary in  art  and  literature  ? " — "  For  a  lady  quite  suffi- 
cient," said  Dr.  Stinde,  "what  may  otherwise  be  want- 
ing her  talents  will  effect." — "You  certainly  have  hit 
2 


Wilhelmine  forcibly  drawn  Away. 


the  nail  on  the  head  there,  Doctor,"  said  I,  and  then 
asked  him  whether  it  would  be  likely  that  we  could 
find  the  gentleman  now. 

We  set  out  on  the  hunt  for  him,  and  found  him 
leaning  against  the  trunk  of  a  palm  tree,  his  head 
with  its  cluster  of  fair  curls,  resting  thoughtfully  upon  , 
his  right  arm,  the  hand  artistically  touching  his  cheek. 
His  left  hand  was  holding  a  red  velvet  note-book. 
His  necktie  was  not  white,  but  light-green  in  colour. 
In  fact,  I  had  always  pictured  a  living  poet  somewhat 
like  this  man.  Dr.  Stinde  introduced  us  -to  each 
other — "  Feodor  Wichmann-Leuenfels — Frau  Wilhel- 
mine Buchholz." — "  I  am  very  pleased,"  said  I. — "  You 
v/ere  no  doubt  just  writing  some  poetry,"  added  Dr. 
Stinde,  pointing  to  the  little  note-book. — "  You  have 
guessed  rightly,"  replied  Herr  Feodor  Wichmann- 
Leuenfels,  "  and  I  think  I  have  succeeded  in  penning 
some  excellent  lines.  Will  you  judge  for  yourself?" — 
"  Not  just  now,"  said  Dr.  Stinde  evasively,  "  but  if 
you  would  read  your  poems  to  Frau  Buchholz,  at  her 
own  house  .  .  .  ." — "That  is  just  what  I  was  about 
to  ask,"  I  broke  in,  interrupting  the  Doctor,  and  gave 
the  young  man  our  address,  with  the  request  that  he 
would  call  upon  us.  When  he  had  accepted  the  invi- 
tation Dr.  Stinde  drew  me  away  forcibly.  "Are  you 
not  an  admirer  of  poetry?"  I  asked. — "All  in  its  own 
good  time  and  place,"  was  his  answer  ;  "  I  like  poetry 
best  when  I  can  read  it  quietly  to  myself.  If  I  find  a 
single  grain  among  the  chaff  in  a  book  of  poems,  I 
am  but  too  delighted,  for  I  know  that  all  the  inferior 
portions  wull  be  forgotten,  and  that  w^hich  is  of  value 
will  live.  When  time  has  purified  it,  the  people  will 
store  it  up  in  their  treasure  house,  that  is,  in  their 
hearts." — "  Do  you  think  the  people  have  an  under- 
standing for  such  things?" — "No,"  he  replied,  "but 


On  Hartmanii  s  Philosophy.  ig 

they  have  feeling.  So-called  understanding  may  be 
said  to  be  the  patent  with  which  critics  cause  so  much 
mischief.  It  is  not  understanding  that  creates  works 
of  art,  but  feeling  ;  it  is  to  feeling  that  w^e  owe  all 
that  is  best  in  us.  And  thus,  when  understanding 
casts  its  supposed  infallible  judgment  upon  the  inex- 
plicable charm  of  poetry,  it  alwa3'^s  seems  to  me  as  if 
some  one  were  trying  to  measure  the  scent  of  flowers 
by  the  )^ard.  No  philosopeer  has  yet  solved  what  the 
beautiful  really  is.'" — "  But  surely  there  can  be  notli- 
ing  simpler  than  that,"  I  exclaimed  ;  "the  beautiful  is 
everything  that  is  beautiful ;  a  blind  man  might  even 
feel  that  with  his  stick." — "  You  must  surely  have 
studied  Hartmann's  philosophy  of  the  unknown,"  said 
Dr.  Stinde. — "  What  makes  you  think  that  ?  and  how 
can  you  suppose  that  a  practical  woman  like  me  can 
find  time  for  study  ?  Still  I  admit  I  have  an  appre- 
ciation for  what  is  beautiful,  for  I  always  prefer  it  to 
what  is  ugly." 

''  I  w'ill  introduce  you  to  a  gentleman  of  the  pro- 
fession who  is  quite  of  your  opinion,"  said  Dr.  Stinde; 
"  here  he  is  coming  towards  us.    Herr  Ludwig  Pietsch. 

....  Frau  Buchholz  would  be  happy "     "  Ah  !    I 

shall  be  charmed,"  said  the  gentleman,  and  gallantly 
gave  me  his  arm.  I,  however,  could  not  get  out  a 
word,  I  was  so  overpowered  at  the  thought  that  I  was 
walking  beside  Ludwig  Pietsch  ;  one  word  from  him 
in  the  Vossische,  and  next  day  I  might  be  standing  be- 
fore the  world  in  spotless  glory ;  or,  it  might  happen 
that  he  mentioned  some  one  else,  then  one's  choicest 
dress  might  as  v.'ell  have  been  thrown  to  the  cats. 
The  majesty  of  the  great  power  overawed  me,  as  he 
graciously  began  to  address  me  and  let  his  eye  rest 
upon  me.  However,  his  manner  as  an  accomplished 
gentleman  presently  gave  ine  courage,  and  with  a  be- 


20  TJie  Ancient  Stage, 

seeching  glance  up  at  him,  I  said  :  "  Pray  do  not  ex- 
amine it  too  closely,  Herr  Pietsch,  I  have  only  got  my 
second    best    dress    on    to-day ;  when   one    reaches   a 

certain    age " — "  Now   you   are  jesting,"  said   he, 

kindly  cutting  short  ray  last  words,  "with  your  charms 
you  put  many  of  the  youngest  in  the  shade." — "  If  the 
Press  says  so  I  suppose  it  must  be  true,"  I  replied, 
embarrassed.  He  then  drew  my  attention  to  the  won- 
derful tones  of  colour  which  the  electric  light  brought 
out  upon  some  of  the  ladies'  dresses,  and  explained 
the  whole  animated  scene  to  me,  after  which  we  had 
to  part,  however  unwillingly,  for  the  lectures  were 
about  to  begin,  and  many  other  ladies  were  no  doubt 
hoping  to  be  taken  notice  of  by  him. — On  Tuesday, 
sure  enough,  I  found  my  name  in  the  morning  paper, 
and  the  paper-boys  had  to  carry  me — among  the  list 
of  distinguished  visitors  and  recognisable  to  all  my 
most  intimate  acquaintances  —  through  all  Berlin, 
bringing  radiant  joy  into  cottages  and  palaces. 

The  ideal  part  of  the  festival  then  began.  The 
stage — as  I  learned  from  a  contributor  to  an  archaeo- 
logical paper — was  arranged  exactly  according  to  an 
antique  model,  except  as  regards  the  curtain,  the  bed- 
screen  and  a  Bechstein  piano.  A  lady  of  the  dramatic 
profession  recited  something.  She  had  a  cop)^  of  the 
poem  fastened  in  front  of  her  fan,  as  the  ancient 
Greeks  had  no  prompter,  but  she  spoke  as  if  from  her 
very  soul.  Unfortunately  I  could  not  follow  a  word 
she  said,  as  the  acoustics  of  the  Winter  Garden  are 
rather  indistinct,  and  I  was  rather  far  back  in  the  area, 
but  I  was  deeply  moved  by  the  tone  of  her  voice. 
And,  indeed,  it  does  not  much  matter  about  the  words 
if  only  the  hearer  is  affected,  and  particularly  at  a 
Press  ball. 

The  considerate  committee  had  arranged  a  break  in 


and  Men-Scrvants  in    Tail-Conts.  21 

the  proceedings  for  supper,  in  order  that  the  musi- 
cians, too,  might  have  some  refreshment.  There  was 
one  thing  that  did  not  please  me,  in  fact,  that  had 
long  displeased  me,  namely,  that  the  men-servants 
should  be  running  to  and  fro  in  tail-coats,  like  the 
gentleman-dancers;  of  course  the  servants'  coats  differ 
in  so  far  as  they  show  a  greasykind  of  shininess.  At 
such  festivals  the  attendant  spirits  ought  to  be  clothed 
in  a  suitable  livery,  or  have  white  aprons  tied  on  in 
front  of  them,  as  has  become  the  custom  in  some  of 
our  more  fashionable  restaurants.  Uncle  Fritz  thinks 
that  any  such  arrangement  would  affect  the  value  of 
left-off  tail-coats,  and  that  this  would  exercise  an  un- 
warrantable reaction  upon  the  national  wealth.  From 
a  domestic  economy  point  of  view  he  may  be  right; 
but  I  hold  to  my  opinion  as  regards  the  outward  look 
of  things  at  a  festival. 

I  was  much  pleased  in  making  the  acquaintance  of 
a  lady  colleague,  that  is,  of  Frau  Vely,  the  authoress 
of  very  charming  novels.  "  My  dear  Frau  Vely,"  said 
I  to  her,  "how  do  you  come  by  all  your  knowledge  of 
life  ?  our  human  existence  seems  to  have  scarcely  a 
secret  from  you?" — "Dear  Frau  Buchholz,"  she  an- 
swered frankly,  "  I  write  with  Leonhardi's  blue-black 
ink,  it  does  not  put  drags  on  to  the  wings  of  the 
mind."  I  determined  to  procure  some  of  that  ink  the 
very  next  day,  not  being  one  of  those  who  overlook  a 
good  piece  of  advice;  for  it  often  happens  that  a  great 
deal  depends  upon  mere  trifles.  We  conversed  for  some 
time,  and  quite  agreed  that  the  festival  was  incom- 
parable. 

That  it  was  indeed,  for  although  the  oranges  gradu- 
ally disappeared  from  the  orange  trees,  where  human 
hands  could  reach  without  actual  climbing,  still  the 
notabilities  remained.     Celebrities  were  to  be  seen  on 


22  A    Valuable  Ink. 


all  sides,  celebrities  whose  portraits  even  we  in  the 
Landsbcrger  Strasse  do  not  manage  to  see,  and 
towards  the  end  of  the  evening  I  had  almost  thrown 
off  the  uneasy  feeling  that  had  oppressed  me  on  lii'st 
entering.  I  even  took  the  liberty  of  introducing 
myself  to  Ernst  von  Wildenbruch,  and  recommended 
him  to  try  Leonhardi's  ink,  telling  him  that  anything 
written  with  that  ink  could  not  fail  to  win  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Press. — "  My  dear  Madam,"  he  replied, 
"  I  have  used  nothing  but  that  ink  for  years,  my  Chris- 
topher  Marlowe  was  written  with  it  from  beginning  to 
end." — "Then  I  do  not  comprehend  the  critics,"  I  ex- 
claimed is  astonishment. — "You  are  not  alone  there, 
dear  Frau  Buchholz." — "Do  3'ou  know  what,"  said  I, 
"  I  would  advise  you  to  give  your  tragedies  very 
cheerful  endings,  the  Press  has  always  something  to 
say  in  favour  of  what  provokes  laughter." — "  One  tear 
which  a  poet  calls  forth  will  drown  any  number  of 
vexatious  utterances  that  appear  in  print:  tears  form 
the  dew  that  produces  new  buds." — "  And  so  you  work 
on  heedless  of  what  they  say?" — "Yes,  precisely  so, 
dear  Madam." — "  Even  when  3^ou  know  that  they  will 
at  once  be  down  upon  you  again  ?  That  is  truly  cour- 
ageous."— "Poetry  is  my  second  home,  I  have  sworn 
it  the  same  fidelity  as  my  German  Fatherland." 

Unfortunately,  just  at  that  moment  there  seemed  to 
be  a  general  break  up,  and  although  I  would  have 
liked,  above  all  things,  to  have  had  some  further  ex- 
change of  thoughts  with  other  of  the  notabilities,  I 
was  obliged  to  set  off  homewards  with  Uncle  Fritz. 
He  had  enjoyed  himself  too,  and  thought  the  show  of 
ladies  m.agnificent. — "'Well,  you  see,"  said  I,  "how 
unnecessary  it  is  for  j-qu  to  look  abroad,  when  j'ou 
can  have  a  far  greater  an  J  a  better  choice  at  home." — 
"Unfortunately,  the  married  ones  were  the  nicest,"  he 


Never  sazv  Carl  so  Etherised.  23 

ceplied. — "What  sort  of  principles  are  these?"  was 
my  remark. — "  Come  now,  Wilhclmine,  that's  enough," 
he  answered  abruptly,  and  began  whistling  a  valse. — 
"  How  very  different  Ludwig  Pietsch  was,"  thought  I 
to  myself,  "and  how  well  informed  all  the  other  gen- 
tlemen were.  But  brothers  rarely  have  any  sisterly 
feeling  of  tenderness." 

My  heart  was  so  interlarded  with  my  experiences, 
and  so  full  of  the  many  meetings  I  had  had  with  dis- 
tinguished persons,  that  I  wanted  forthwith  to  tell 
Carl  some  of  the  occurrences  most  worth  knowing; 
but  it  was  as  impossible  to  rouse  him  out  of  his  sleep 
as  it  must  have  been  to  wake  Sleeping  Beauty  when 
she  had  begun  the  first  quarter  of  her  hundred  years' 
sleep. — I  called  out  to  him,  "Carl,  here  I  am  back 
again."  He  never  stirred  or  moved.  I  shook  him. 
But  all  in  vain.  I  felt  certain  of  this;  they  must  all 
have  been  drinking  some  specially  poisonous  stuff,  for 
I  had  never  yet  seen  Carl  so  etherised. 

In  what  sort  of  state  had  he  come  home  ?  Per- 
haps robbed  of  everything  he  had  ?  No,  there  lay  his 
watch  on  the  table,  and  the  glass  not  broken.  But  his 
purse  ?  It  was  in  his  trouser-pocket  with  his  keys, 
where  he  never  left  it  when  in  his  normal  state.  "  He 
will  have  a' pretty  headache  to-morrow  by  way  of 
punishment,"  said  I,  examining  his  purse,  for  it  struck 
me  as  unusually  bulky.  What  could  be  inside  ?  A 
very  handful  of  beer-tickets.  I  must  know  what  this 
meant.  "  Carl,  what's  the  meaning  of  all  these  beer- 
tickets?"  I  called  out  into  his  ear,  raising  him  up 
and  shaking  him  gentl}' as  v/ell  as  I  could. — "  Mina 
....  one  bit  more  ....  to  get  out  of  the  habit  !  " 
he  muttered  with  some  difficulty,  and  turned  with  a 
jerk  out  of  my  hands  and  fell  back  among  the  pillows. 
"Whatever  makes  him  call  me  Mina  ?  "  thought  I,  "  it's 


24  TJie  New   Wardrobe. 

quite  contrary  to  his  usual  way.  Well,  just  a  little 
patience,  to-morrow  I  shall  know  what  they've  been 
doing  to  him.  It's  a  pity,  to  be  sure,  that  he'll  not  be 
able  to  enjoy  my  account  of  the  Press  festival;  that 
can  be  appreciated  only  by  a  clear  head  and  an  inter- 
est in  the  ideal." 

With  the  thought  whether  Ludwig  Pietsch  would 
remember  me,  I  put  out  my  light. 


DOMESTIC  ART. 


We  paid  a  visit  to  the  exhibition  of  cheap  furniture 
that  was  being  held  in  the  glass  building  of  the  late 
Hygienic  Exhibition,  and  as  the  prices  asked  for  some 
of  the  articles,  of  really  good  workmanship,  Avere 
astonishingly  low,  we  purchased  a  wardrobe  to  replace 
the  large  clothes-press  which  had  been  standing  in  the 
passage.  The  lower  drawers  of  the  old  one  would 
never  open  properly  if  one  wanted  anything  out  in  a 
hurry,  and  then  too  the  thing  was  worm-eaten.  Car] 
approved  of  the  investment,  for  the  new  wardrobe  is 
divided  in  the  middle,  and  he  can  now  have  his  realm 
all  to  himself,  and  no  longer  needs  to  grumble  that 
his  clothes  are  hung  on  the  back  pegs,  and  that  when 
he  wants  some  particular  coat  he  is  sure  to  lay  hold  of 
the  wrong  one. 

When,  however,  the  new  wardrobe  was  put  up,  we 
found  that  it  was  smaller  than  the  old  piece  of  furni- 
ture, and  hence  that  it  did  not  cover  the  same  space  of 
wall.  Now  the  piece  of  wall  covered  by  the  old  press 
had  never  been  papered,  for  I  remember  we  bought  a 
remnant  of  paper  cheap  and  it  proved  hardly  sufficient 
to  paper  the  whole  passage.  We  could  not  get  it 
matched  at  the  time,  and  thus  the  wall  behind  the 


Uncle  Fritz  on  Infants'  Music.  25 

press  was  left  in  its  original  condition,  a  bright  blue 
in  oil  paint.  But,  of  course,  not  a  trace  of  this  was 
seen  when  the  old  cupboard  stood  there. 

"  The  whole  passage  will  have  to  be  repapered  for 
the  sake  of  that  new  piece  of  furniture,"  said  Carl  ; 
"  what  shall  we  have  gained  by  the  change  ?  " 

"  Don't  trouble  about  that,  wait  and  see  how  cleverly 
we  shall  manage  it." 

He  shook  his  head  as  he  went  off,  but  did  notventure 
to  oppose  me  by  slighting  remarks. 

I  had  said  "  we,"  meaning  not  only  myself,  but  Betti 
and  me,  for  without  her  help  I  should  not  have  been 
able  to  carry  out  my  idea. 

Betti  had,  in  fact,  taken  to  painting  lately,  for  she 
had  no  inclination  whatever  to  become  a  governess,  and 
yet  did  not  wish  to  be  without  some  regular  occupation. 
And  what  was  the  use  of  her  trying  to  pass  a  hard 
examination,  simply  to  keep  children  tidy  and  to  teach 
them  a  little  spelling?  Uncle  Fritz  too  dissuaded 
her,  by  maintaining  that  "children  are  horrid,  they 
can  do  nothing  but  cry  or  sleep  ;  the  pleasantest  mo- 
ments in  family  life  are  when  the  children  are  asleep." 
— My  reply  to  this  was:  "You  will  talk  very  differ- 
ently some  day,  my  boy." — Whereupon  he  answered, 
"  I  have  certainly  had  to  put  up  with  noise  enough 
from  our  club-poets,  but  I  shall  never  get  accustomed 
to  infants'  music  unless  I  invest  in  a  pair  of  india- 
rubber  ears." 

"  Children's  voices  are  like  angels'  voices,"  said  I, 
"but,  of  course,  they  need  be  one's  own  children. 
Your  vocal  society,  'The  Whooping-Cough,'  no  doubt 
makes  a  pretty  hullabaloo  ;  I  wonder  the  neighbours 
tolerate  such  uproar." — "They  gain  something  by  it, 
at  all  events  ;  they  would  scarcely  know  what  a  mouse 
was  like  if  they  hadn't  preserved  one  in  a  glass  case." 


26  Betti  takes  to  Painting. 

Betti  had  always  shown  a  taste  for  art.  Even  as  a 
child  she  would  cut  out  figures  from  the  fashion 
papers,  colour  them  neatly,  and  then  gum  them  into 
an  exercise  book.  And  painting  has  become  such  a 
favourite  occupation  with  ladies,  that  the  most  emi- 
nent artists  give  them  lessons  nowadays.  And  then 
to  think  what  prices  are  now  given  for  paintings  ! 
Menzel,  a  short  time  ago,  got  ^^4500  for  one  picture, 
and,  as  Betti  says,  he  has  not  even  used  the  most  ex- 
pensive colours.  Such  demands  we,  of  course,  should 
never  make,  although  naturally  one  would  like  to 
cover  one's  expenses. 

Betti,  to  be  sure,  is  only  at  the  first  stage  yet,  and 
paints  upon  articles  of  wood  ;  still  I  must  say  she  has 
been  very  diligent.  She  has  painted  three  clothes- 
brushes — one  for  me,  one  for  her  father,  and  one  for 
Dr.  Wrenzchen — all  three  in  flowers.  They  might 
have  been  bought  at  a  shop,  they  are  so  artistically 
finished.  If  only  the  varnishing  did  not  come  so  ex- 
pensive. Betti  tried  to  do  it  herself  at  first,  but  she 
never  succeeded  altogether,  and  could  not  manage  to 
get  a  stiiooth  surface  properly.  Smaller  articles,  such 
as  plates,  paper-knives,  pocket-books,  and  little  boxes, 
are  very  useful  for  giving  away  as  presents;  among 
our  friends  and  acquaintances  there  are  birthdays 
enough  to  make  it  difficult  to  overtake  them  all  with 
any  show  of  respectability. 

So  on  the  day  in  question  I  said  to  Betti  :  "There 
is  now  a  chance  for  you  to  give  a  proof  of  your  talent, 
and  we  will  mightily  surprise  your  father.  What  I 
want  you  to  do  is  to  paint  in  the  pattern  of  the  wall- 
paper where  there  is  no  paper  on  the  wall,  and  to  make 
it  look  exactly  like  the  rest  of  the  wall.  He  will  be 
astDnished  when  he  finds  that  he  can't  distinguish  be- 
tween the  deception  and  the  reality,  unless  he  examines 
it  very  carefully." 


About  Pigeons.  27 


Betti,  it  is  true,  did  think  this  would  be  too  difficult 
for  her,  as  she  had  never  yet  tried  wall  painting,  a 
branch  which  was  to  be  taken  up  later,  under  Gussow, 
when  she  had  finished  v:ith  painting  on  wood,  and  had 
passed  through  a  course  of  landscape  painting,  which 
is  very  carefully  taught  by  the  society  of  Lady 
Artists  ;  still  she  said  she  was  willing  to  try.  From 
the  outset  I  had  looked  forward  to  the  moment  when 
I  should  be  able  to  say  to  Carl  :  *'  Now,  then,  what  do 
you  say  to  that  ?  And  to  think  that  the  expense  would 
not  be  worth  speaking  about  !  Simply  an  instance  of 
domestic  art." 

We  took  a  couple  of  old  cream  jars  and  went  to 
fetch  the  paint.  It  was  not  easy  to  find  the  right 
shades,  but  I  hurried  home  and  ripped  a  piece  of  paper 
off  the  wall  from  below  the  place  where  the  press  had 
stood.  This  I  gave  to  the  young  man  in  the  colour- 
shop,  and  it  enabled  him  to  understand  exactly  what 
we  wanted,  and  he  mixed  the  colours  accordingly. 
When  Betti  saw  this  she  was  most  anxious  to  set  to 
work,  a  proof  that  she  has  the  talent.  The  young 
man  also  selected  the  brushes,  a  large  one  for  the 
grounding,  and  several  smaller  ones  for  working  out 
the  details.  That  same  evening  Betti  sketched  out 
the  pattern,  and  on  the  following  morning,  as  soon  as 
Carl  had  gone  to  the  office,  we  set  about  the  work. 
That  is  to  say,  Betti  undertook  the  artistic  part,  and  I 
stood  by  to  assist  her  with  good  advice.  However,  as 
she  declared  she  could  do  nothing  if  I  kept  watching 
her,  I  went  off  to  the  kitchen.  We  were  going  to  have 
pigeons  for  dinner,  which  Carl  likes  very  much  if  they 
are  carefully  prepared,  and  cooked  briskh%  with  a 
little  onion  and  parsley  root  ;  so  I  had  enough  to  do. 
Cooks  rather  dislike  preparing  this  dish,  as  it  gives 
some  trouble,  and,  moreover,  they  are  apt  to  tell  lies 


28  A  Mistake  in  the  Colours, 

about  it,  by  declaring  that  there  were  no  pigeons  of 
the  kind  to  be  had  at  the  market. 

However,  before  the  last  bird  had  passed  through 
my  hands,  my  motherly  interest  in  Betti's  artistic 
work  induced  me  to  go  and  see  how  things  were  pro- 
gressing with  the  fresco  painting.  I  found  Betti  in  a 
not  very  amiable  state  of  mind,  for  when  I  appeared 
in  the  passage  she  said  rather  shortly  :  ''  What  is  it 
you  want  ?  " — I  noticed  at  once  that  something  was 
amiss,  for  when  Betti's  voice  has  a  snappish  sound  she 
is  not  given  to  be  amiable,  and  so  I  said  with  the 
utmost  gentleness  :  "Well,  have  you  succeeded  in  ac- 
complishing anything,  my  child  ?  " 

Betti  came  down  off  the  kitchen  steps,  upon  which 
she  had  been  standing  while  pasting  up  the  pattern 
she  had  sketched,  and  then  examined  the  work  from  a 
perspective  distance. 

"  Do  you  think  it  will  do  ? "  she  asked. 

What  could  I  say  ?  If  I  said  "  No,"  she  was  quite 
capable  of  replying  :  "  Well  then,  take  the  colours  and 
brushes  and  do  it  yourself."  If  I  said  "  Yes,"  then 
the  painting  would,  of  course,  remain  as  it  w^as,  and 
Carl  would  have  every  reason  to  find  fault,  for  the 
result  of  Betti's  work  was  really  not  much  of  any- 
thing. 

So  after  having  examined  her  work  from  different 
points  of  view,  and  with  some  show  of  artistic  ap- 
preciation, I  said  :  "  Betti,  the  pattern  seems  remark- 
ably like,  but  the  colours  do  not  quite  correspond. 
Do  you  not  yourself  think  that  the  colours  are  a  few 
shades  too  light  ?  " 

"It  is  all  too  light,"  replied  Betti,  "yet  how  can 
this  possibly  be  the  case  when  the  young  man  mixed 
the  colours  himself  so  carefully  according  to  your 
pattern  ?     Can  it  be  the  light,  mamma  ?     You  know 


and  Another   Trial  Made.  29 

artists  alwaj's  complain  that  unless  the  light  is  right 
it  spoils  their  best  paintings." — I  was  about  to  agree 
to  this  possibility  when  a  most  unwelcome  thought 
dawned  upon  me,  and  proved  to  be  right.  The  fact 
was,  I  had  taken,  as  a  pattern,  a  piece  of  the  wall- 
paper that  had  always  been  covered  by  the  old  clothes- 
press,  and  which,  therefore,  had  retained  its  original 
and  lighter  colour. 

"Now,  mamma,"  said  Betti  in  a  tone  of  vexation, 
"  why  do  you  interfere  with  things  when  you  know 
that  you  know  nothing  whatever  about  painting  ?  " — 
"No,  no,  my  dear,"  I  replied,  "you  cannot  say  that 
of  me  ;  have  I  not  climbed  nine  flights  of  stairs  in  the 
Vatican  to  see  the  genuine  Raphaels  and  the  other  ce- 
lebrities in  oil?" — "The  whole  Vatican  would  be  of 
no  use  to  us  here,  mamma,"  interposed  Betti  ;  "  I  shall 
have  to  go  and  get  the  proper  colours." — So  she  strip- 
ped off  a  piece  of  the  darkened  wall-paper  and  flew 
off  to  the  shop,  for  she  too  was  anxious  to  have 
finished  before  noon,  and  I  was  meanwhile  left  to  my 
own  thoughts.  It  seemed  clear  to  me  now  that  Art  is 
by  no  means  so  very  easy,  and  demands  a  goodly 
amount  of  genius  as  well. 

When  Betti  returned  she  said  :  "Mamma,  the  work 
cannot  be  done  in  the  w^ay  we  imagined.  First  of  all, 
a  background  has  to  be  washed  in,  and  when  it  is  dry 
the  pattern  has  to  be  painted  upon  it." 

"  Who  told  you  so  ?  " — "  The  young  man  in  the  shop 
explained  this  to  me  ;  he  has  been  in  the  Academy 
himself,  it  seems." 

"  Has  he  studied  under  Gussow  then,  that  he  pre- 
tends to  know  so  much  ?" — "  I  did  not  ask  him  that, 
but  he  did  say  that  selling  colours  brought  in  more 
money  than  art." 

"  He  told  you  that,  probably  by  way  of  excusing 


30  Carl  Finds  Fault. 

himself.  Think  what  an  amount  it  would  represent 
for  Menzel  to  have  sold  ^4500  worth  of  oil  colours 
and  floor  varnish  !  He  would  need  to  have  been  sell- 
ing the  stuffs  day  and  night.  No,  one  cannot  believe 
offhand  what  such  a  person  says,  and  need  know  ex- 
actly what  he  means." 

While  we  were  conversing  in  this  way  Betti  had 
painted  in  the  background  with  the  large  brush. 
There  was  some  paint  over,  so  I  used  it  in  trying  my 
hand  at  painting  a  wooden  box,  and  did  not  find  it 
very  troublesome.  "  Betti,"  I  exclaimed  in  glee,  "  we 
shall  never  again,  after  this,  need  to  have  painters  in 
the  house,  we  can  do  everything  ourselves,  and  save  a 
pretty  penny." 

When  Carl  came  in  to  dinner,  of  course  we  could 
not  conceal  the  painting  that  had  been  begun.  He 
looked  at  it,  shook  his  head,  and  said  :  "  Wilhelmine, 
I  am  afraid  the  difference  will  be  noticed.  You  had 
better  give  up  the  painting  and  have  the  whole  pas- 
sage repapered." 

"  And  throw  money  out  of  the  window,"  I  exclaimed, 
"  No,  Carl,  I'll  not  have  that ;  and  it's  no  encourage- 
ment to  art  to  find  fault  with  things  at  the  very  outset, 
in  a  hasty  way.  Wait  a  little,  and  then  pronounce 
your  judgment.  To-morrow  you  will  have  a  very 
different  piece  of  work  to  criticise  !  "  This  proved  to 
be  true,  but  unluckily  the  work  turned  out  very  differ- 
ent from  what  I  had  anticipated. 

What  the  reason  was  I  do  not  know,  but  when  Betti 
on  the  following  morning  painted  in  the  pattern,  the 
wall  looked  stranger  than  ever.  "  Betti,"  said  I,  "  you 
have  not  got  quite  the  right  knack  yet,  I  think.  What 
do  you  say  to  painting  the  whole  wall  one  colour  ? 
Papa,  it  is  true,  prefers  it  being  papered,  but  that's 
because  he  hasn't  confidence  in  us  :  he  is  sure  to  be 


A  Hurry-Sciirry.  31 

quite  satisfied  when  the  passage  is  once  done,  and 
looks  lovely." 

We  sent  the  girl  Doris  to  the  colour-shop  with  a  pot 
sufficiently  large  to  hold  paint  enough  for  the  four 
walls,  and  I  told  her  to  bring  another  good-sized 
brush  for  grounding,  as  I  meant  to  help  in  the  work 
myself.  We  had  decided  in  favour  of  sky-blue,  having_ 
got  the  idea  from  the  old  unpapered  patch  on  the 
wall,  and  because  everything  old-fashioned  is  again 
the  fashion  now. 

We  were  anything  but  idle.  Betti,  mounted  on  the 
kitchen  steps,  undertook  to  see  to  the  upper  regions, 
while  I,  on  my  knees  on  the  floor,  attended  to  the 
lower  parts.  When  we  got  to  the  end  of  our  paint 
Doris  was  despatched  for  more.  It  was  a  regular 
hurry-scurry. 

"  The  only  thing  wanting  now  are  visitors,"  said 
Betti  jocosely,  for  she  was  enjoying  the  painting  as 
much  as  I  was. — "  That  would  be  a  pretty  mess  !  "  I 
exclaimed.  "  Betti,  we  must  be  quick  and  see  that  we 
are  not  interrupted,  that  the  vv^ork  is  finished  at  once, 
before  papa  comes  in." 

Haste,  however,  is  both  exhausting  and  mischievous. 
In  her  hurry  Betti  knocked  the  pot  of  paint  off  the 
steps,  and  the  good  blue  paint  splashed  over  the  floor. 

There  is  nothing  more  horrid  than  upset  oil  paint. 
We  wiped  it  up.  But  it  always  seemed  to  come  out 
again.  Nothing  we  could  do  would  remove  it  alto- 
gether. By  wa^^  of  consolation  I  said  to  Betti  :  "  The 
floor  would  in  any  case  have  required  a  coat  of  varnish. 
Doris  will  have  to  fetch  some  more  paint  soon,  and  so 
she  may  as  well  bring  back  some  brown  varnish  for 
the  floor  at  the  same  time." 

"  And  a  nice  bright  red  for  the  border  at  the  top 
and  bottom  of  the  wall,"  added  Betti. 


32  Unsitccessful  'Painting, 

''  Will  one  cupful  be  enough  ?  " — "  Let  her  take  the 
large  office  jar,"  suggested  Betti,  and  off  Doris  went. 

Betti  was  right.  A  border  did  seem  necessary  to 
give  our  work  an  artistic  finish.  She  hoped,  as  I  my- 
self did,  that  when  once  the  red  lines  were  drawn  in, 
the  unevenness  of  the  painting  would  not  be  so  con- 
spicuous. Betti  again  mounted  the  ladder,  and,  as  she 
had  the  ruler  in  one  hand  and  her  brush  in  the  other, 
Doris  had  to  stand  below  to  hold  up  the  paint  pot. 

After  a  time  Doris  ventured  to  remark:  "  Miss  Betti, 
you  really  mustn't  let  the  paint  drop  so,  my  jacket 
and  my  whole  face  are  covered  with  paint."  This  was 
true  enough,  I  must  admit. 

"  And  this  jacket  I  put  on  to-day  for  the  first  time," 
Doris  continued  in  a  grumbling  tone. — "Well,  well," 
said  I,  "  if  the  paint  won't  wash  out  you  shall  have  a 
new  one."  With  this  I  turned  to  my  work  again,  A 
few  powerful  strokes  with  the  brush  and  I  could  ex- 
claim :  "  I've  finished  !  " 

But  before  I  had  got  so  far  Betti  had  been  mutter- 
ing :  ''  Mamma,  I  can't  get  the  border  to  do,  it  keeps 
running  down  into  the  other  colours.  I  feel  quite 
desperate." 

I  must  confess  I  had  not  expected  very  much  from 
the  border  myself,  and  yet  I  have  never  in  my  life 
been  so  deceived  about  anything.  Sure  enough  there 
was  the  red  trickling  down  in  long  stripes  into  the 
blue,  for  all  the  world  like  the  choicest  of  fringes. 
We  tried  to  drive  the  red  lines  upwards  with  the  blie 
brush,  but  this  seemed  only  to  make  matters  worse. 

"  We  shall  have  to  do  it  all  over  again  to-morrow, 
from  the  very  beginning,"  said  Betti  dolefully. 

"All  this  mess  over  again!"  I  exclaimed;  "just 
look  how  you  have  splattered  yourself  with  paint, 
Betti,  and  look  at  Doris  !  " 


and  Uncle  Fritz  Sarcastic.  33 

"  Sausage-making,  which  we  used  to  do  at  home,  is 
nothing  to  this  !  "  exclaimed  Doris. 

I  used  up  the  remaining  blue,  by  giving  a  final  touch 
to  the  wall,  Doris  cleared  away  the  pots  and  brushes, 
and  then  Betti  and  I  went  off  to  change  our  dresses.  I 
could  never  have  believed  that  oil-paint  could  have 
splashed  so  much,  some  had  settled  on  the  very  back 
of  my  neck.  And  how  difficult  it  is  to  get  it  out  of 
one's  finger-nails  !  It  is  perfectly  astonishing  what  a 
speck  of  paint  accomplishes  when  it  gets  on  to  the 
wrong  place!  What  would  the  towels  be  like  ?  Things 
no  longer  looked  very  promising. 

We  had  scarcely  finished  dressing,  and  tidied  things 
up  as  far  as  we  could  in  the  hurry,  when  Carl  and 
Uncle  Fritz  came  in.  I  recognised  their  voices  in 
their  exclamations  at  our  handiwork. 

"  Don't  let  us  go  out  to  them,"  I  whispered  to  Betti, 
**let  them  quietly  recover  from  their  first  impression, 
for  the  first  is  always  the  strongest." 

Then  they  came  in.  Carl,  as  I  could  at  once  see, 
was  not  in  the  best  of  humours,  but  Uncle  Fritz's  eyes 
actually  beamed  with  delight,  and  mischievous  jokes 
were  flickering  round  about  his  mouth. 

"  Wilhelmine,  did  I  not  tell  you  .  ,  .?"  Carl  began, 
in  a  reproachful  tone.  Uncle  Fritz,  however,  inter- 
rupted him  with  a  laugh:  "No,  Carl,  old  fellow,  now 
don't  prove  yourself  a  barbarian  in  art,  there's  not 
another  such  landing  as  yours  to  be  found  in  the  wide 
world.  Were  you  to  exhibit  it  at  the  Cantian's  Platz, 
you  would  assuredly  get  the  large  gold  medal." 

"  I  beg  you  not  to  make  any  such  insulting  re- 
marks," said  I;  "when  people  have  done  their  best, 
there's  no  need  to  cast  ridicule  upon  them." 

"  You  no  doubt  took  the  blue  grotto  in  Capri  as 
your  model,  Wilhelmine,"  continued  Uncle  Fritz,  pay- 
3 


34  Doris  s  ruined  Bodice  and  Dress. 

ing  no  heed  to  my  remark,  "  If  only  you  were  to  tie 
a  boat  to  the  wardrobe,  the  thing  would  be  perfect  !  " 

"You  needn't  excite  yourself,"  I  replied,  ''our  main 
object  was  economy,  and  that  is  quite  beyond  your 
comprehension  as  a  bachelor." 

"  Economy!  "  exclaimed  Carl,  "  what  have  you  spent 
upon  all  this  m  .  .  .  m  .  .  .  manoeuvre?"  (he  strug- 
gled to  find  a  mild  expression,  the  dear,  good  fellow). 

"  The  work  itself  is  our  affair,  and  thus  will  not  cost 
a  farthing  ;  the  rest  of  the  things  I  have  had  put  down 
to  our  account." 

Carl  called  Doris,  intending  to  send  her  to  the 
colour-shop  for  the  bill.  Doris  came  at  once,  as  she 
heard  herself  called  sharply.  When  she  entered  Uncle 
Fritz  simply  gave  a  roar  of  delight.  The  girl  hadn't 
had  time  to  wash  off  all  the  red  paint,  and  would  have 
presented  an  alarming  appearance  to  any  one  who  did 
not  know  what  she  had  been  about.  Even  Carl  said, 
"  Doris,  you  cannot  possibly  go  out  like  that  ;  the 
neighbors  would  think  you  had  committed  a  mur- 
der." 

I  was  uncommonly  glad  that  Doris  could  not  go 
out,  and  that  1  had  time,  by  carefully  leading  the  con- 
versation, to  get  Carl  off  the  subject  of  the  bill.  For 
as  appeared  afterwards,  we  had  managed  to  squander 
such  a  considerable  amount  of  paint,  that  the  landing 
might  as  well  have  been  repapered,  and  without  taking 
at  all  a  cheap  paper,  as  had,  of  course,  to  be  done  in 
the  end.  I  did  not  tell  Carl  about  Doris's  ruined 
bodice  and  dress,  which  she  insisted  upon  having 
made  good  to  her,  till  the  whole  affair  had  been  almost 
forgotten,  and  I  had  solemnly  promised  Carl  never 
again  to  try  domestic  art  upon  doors  or  walls,  but  to 
employ  skilled  workmen,  who  earned  their  livelihood 
by  the  work,     1   had   never   imagined  that  economy, 


TJie  Excellence  of  the  Old  Masters.  35 

under  certain  circumstances,  could  lead  to  such  an 
outlay  of  money. 

Betti  has  again  taken  to  painting  wooden  articles, 
although  Uncle  Fritz  declares  she  has  a  prodigious 
talent  for  painting  human  beings — as  he  had  seen  in 
the  case  of  Doris.  Of  course  such  ill-natured  remarks 
were  met  with  cool  disdain  by  us,  and  who  knows  but 
what  the  landing  might  not  have  been  made  very 
beautiful  if  we  had  been  able  to  follow  out  our  inspi- 
rations uninterruptedly  ?  The  old  masters  took  cen- 
turies to  attain  their  excellence,  and  we  had  scarcely 
two  days  at  our  disposal.  But  Uncle  Fritz  has  not  the 
slightest  idea  of  all  this. 

How  long  Betti  means  to  continue  painting  on 
wood,  must  soon  be  decided,  for  I  already  perceive 
that  we  shall  here  have  a  case  of  the  supply  outdoing 
the  demand.  Besides,  what  can  be  done  with  all  the 
things  ?  It  shall  be  my  endeavour  to  win  her  over  to 
literature,  although  she  does  not  expect  to  learn  much 
from  Wichmann-Leuenfels. 


A  REGATTA. 


It  was  high  time  the  regatta  came  off,  for  the  ever- 
lasting talk  about  rowing  had  spoilt  our  pleasant  Sun- 
days for  three  weeks  previously.  Nothing  can  be 
more  homely  than  a  family  gathering  on  a  Sunday; 
business  is  left  behind  locked  office  doors,  ladies  put 
on  their  latest  newest  dresses,  and  the  gentlemen  do 
honour  to  the  day  by  wearing  the  cleanest  of  linen 
and  good  cloth  coats.  In  the  kitchen,  too,  somewhat 
more  trouble  is  taken  than  upon  ordinary  week-days, 
and  the  cookery  book,  although  not  generally  used  on 


36  Family  Sundays, 

week-days,  is  indispensable  on  a  Sunday;  for  it  is 
pleasant  to  surprise  one's  guests  with  some  extra  good 
kind  of  dish.  A  family  party  of  this  kind  on  a  Sun- 
day really  seems  to  have  something  sunshiny  about  it. 

Dr.  Wrenzchen,  my  son-in-law,  of  course  agreed  to 
join  us  at  dinner  on  Sundays,  for  this  would  enable 
them  to  dispense  with  cooking  at  their  house,  and 
their  servant  could  go  out.  That  girl  of  theirs  is  spoilt 
in  a  most  inconceivable  way.  Uncle  Fritz  has  for  years 
been  a  regular  Sunday  visitor  at  our  house.  He  some- 
times brings  a  friend  with  him,  to  which  we  have  no 
objection,  and  when  Betti  invites  one  of  her  com- 
panions we  are  only  too  glad;  for  well-dressed  young 
people  are  a  good  set-off  to  the  table. 

But  mere  eating  does  not  make  a  happy  party;  there 
must  be  pleasant  talk,  and  this  we  generally  had,  for 
Dr.  Wrenzchen  collects  anecdotes  throughout  the 
week  to  provoke  laughter,  and  Uncle  Fritz  is  far  from 
having  got  to  the  end  of  his  cheery  talk. 

But  since  the  crews  began  to  practise,  and  the  day 
of  the  regatta  is  drawing  near,  Uncle  Fritz  had  not  a 
thought  for  anything  but  boating.  His  vocal  society 
was  not  enough  diversion  for  him,  and  he  had  become 
a  member  of  the  rowing  club  as  soon  as  that  was 
started.  His  language  got  full  of  foreign  expressions, 
and  he  assumed  a  manner  that  made  one  suppose  that 
aquatic  sports  must  have  a  deteriorating  effect  upon  a 
man's  culture.  I  had  often  to  pull  him  up  for  this. 
Then,  too,  Dr.  Wrenzchen  was  not  at  all  so  enthusias- 
tic about  rowing  as  Uncle  Fritz,  and  persistently  re- 
fused to  become  a  paying  member  of  the  club.  This 
almost  invariably  led  to  a  dispute  between  them. 
Uncle  Fritz,  moreover,  continued  to  chaff  the  Doctor 
about  the  candlesticks  which  his  colleagues  had  pre- 
sented to  him  as  a   wedding  present,  declaring  them 


and  Family  Disputes.  37 

to  be  only  electro-plate,  which  Dr.  Wrenzchen  denied. 
Their  talk,  however,  had  never  been  as  unpleasant  as 
it  had  lately  become,  and  yet  we  had  to  cook  for  them 
with  the  same  good-will,  and  to  make  the  usual  Sun- 
day additions. 

Thus  it  was  really  the  highest  time  that  the  regatta 
came  off  and  put  an  end  to  these  everlasting  disputes. 
For  when  once  humanity  has  measured  its  strength, 
we  at  last  have  peace;  and  this  holds  good  of  a  regu- 
lar war,  as  well  as  of  a  horse  or  a  boat  race.  The 
boating  men  seem  to  spare  themselves  no  trouble,  for 
they  had  a  man  over  from  London  for  the  express 
purpose  of  making  them  give  up  their  beer  drinking 
and  potato  eating.  Meat  is  the  only  thing  they  are 
allowed  to  eat,  and  smoking  is  altogether  forbidden, 
for  it  is  said  to  weaken  the  physical  strength  as  much 
as  young  vegetables  and  late  hours.  On  the  other 
hand  they  have  to  get  out  from  under  their  blankets 
early  of  a  morning,  and  row  till  they  get  corns  in  their 
hands,  and  are  nothing  but  muscle  and  sinew.  This 
kind  of  medical  treatment  is  called  training.  I  should 
like  to  know  how  much  there  would  be  left  of  Herr 
Kleines  if  he  were  trained  ?  I  should  think  nothing 
but  a  skeleton  and  the  eyeglass  he  has  lately  taken  to 
wearing,  perhaps  also  a  spark  of  the  wit,  which  even 
Uncle  Fritz  cannot  deny  that  he  possesses. 

The  long-expected  day  arrived  at  last,  but  with 
atrocious  weather;  for  days  beforehand  it  had  poured 
in  torrents,  and  on  the  Sunday  morning  it  came  down 
in  the  same  drenching  way.  But  as  the  crews  were 
to  row  whatever  happened,  as  some  of  the  men  came 
from  distant  cities,  we  decided  to  drive  out  to  (jriinau 
in  the  afternoon,  notwithstanding  the  weather.  If 
people  only  make  up  their  minds,  they  can  enjoy  them- 
selves even  in  the  rain.     However,  we  were  fortunate, 


38  A   Cheery  Party. 

for  upon  reaching  the  Gorlitz  station  at  half-past  two, 
the  sky  showed  several  patches  of  blue.  It  might, 
therefore,  clear  up  after  all. 

What  crowds  of  human  beings  there  were  at  the 
station  !  A  barrel  of  herrings  is  nothing  to  it.  Of 
space  there  was  nothing  to  speak  of;  a  dense  mass  of 
people  were  pushing  their  way  into  the  vestibule, 
and  as  dense  a  mass  was  pushing  its  way  out.  How- 
ever, all  the  people  got  their  tickets  and  also  places 
in  the  train,  for  as  soon  as  one  train  steamed  off 
another  was  immediately  drawn  up.  Maybach  must 
have  been  doing  a  brisk  business.  When  he  made  up 
his  accounts  that  night  he  must  assuredly  have 
thought  that  these  boating  men  put  a  good  bit  of 
money  into  circulation.  The  cabmen  had  their  share 
in  the  profits,  and  the  tramcars  and  waggonettes  too. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  regular  migration  of  the  peo- 
ple to  this  end  of  the  city,  a  district  they  otherwise 
rarely  came  to  see. 

The  more  the  sky  brightened  the  merrier  the  peo- 
ple became,  and  we  were  a  cheery  party  in  our  car- 
riage also,  although  it  contained  far  more  than  the 
prescribed  number;  however,  as  Dr.  Wrenzchen  took 
his  wife  on  his  knee,  and  Carl  squeezed  himself  into 
as  small  a  space  as  possible,  we  did  very  well,  espe- 
cially as  it  was  not  long  before  we  reached  Griinau. 

We  had  ten  minutes'  walk  through  a  fir-wood  after 
leaving  the  station.  Afar  off  we  could  hear  the  sound 
of  music;  we  also  saw  a  triumphal  arch  that  had  been 
erected  and  prettily  decorated  in  honour  of  the  Crown 
Prince;  shortly  after  that  we  came  to  the  stairs  that 
led  up  to  the  platform,  where  Uncle  Fritz  had  secured 
seats  for  us.  I  v»^ent  up  without  expecting  to  see  very 
much,  and  was  therefore  immensely  surprised  at  the 
view  upon  reaching  the  top. 


Flags  flutter  in  the  Breeze.  39 

What  a  sight !  The  river  Spree  is  very  broad  at 
Griinau,  and  looks  like  a  beautiful  large  lake  ;  the 
shores  rise  up  gently  and  form  a  narrow  strip  of 
meadow  land  by  the  side  of  the  water,  and  this  strip 
of  land  is  bounded  by  a  wood  of  oaks  and  pine  trees. 
Further  up  the  river  to  the  right  stand  the  Milggel 
Hills,  like  a  miniature  mountain  landscape,  and  to  the 
left,  in  the  distance,  the  church  tower  of  Kopernick 
peeps  out  pleasantly  from  amid  green  trees.  T?ie 
Langen  Lake,  as  the  river  is  called  at  this  point,  had 
been  decorated  in  a  festive  style;  in  the  middle  of  the 
water  lay  an  endless  row  of  large  and  small  sailing 
boats,  covered  from  top  to  bottom  with  innumerable 
flags  and  streamers  that  fluttered  gaily  in  the  wind. 
I  would  never  have  believed  that  so  many  flags  were 
to  have  been  had,  and  such  brightly  coloured  ones 
too.  And  then  the  numbers  of  steamboats  that  were 
every  moment  bringing  oew  batches  of  people  ;  and 
the  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  little  boats  with  ladies 
and  gentlemen  in  them,  and  the  merry  bit  of  bunting 
v/'hving  at  the  end.  It  was  only  on  the  water  that 
there  was  so  much  stir.  The  platform  held  thousands, 
and  along  the  shores  other  thousands  were  standing, 
while  some  sensible  folk  had  set  up  booths  where  the 
multitude  could  get  refreshments. 

I  could  not  look  long  enough  at  this  busy  life  out 
here  in  the  midst  of  the  open  country,  on  the  wood- 
encircled  lake  and  its  shores;  and  I  fancy  every  one 
who  was  there  must  have  been  quite  as  enchanted  as 
I  was. 

Close  to  our  platform  was  the  Crown  Prince's  pa- 
vilion, made  of  some  red  material  and  gold  fringe, 
and  decorated  with  festoons  of  oak;  it  stood  exactly 
opposite  the  goal  where  the  race  was  to  be  decided. 
Of  a   sudden    loud  hurrahs   were   to  be  heard.     The 


40  The  Races  begin, 

Crown  Prince  had  arrived.  lie  entered  the  pavilion 
accompanied  by  Prince  Wilhelm  and  Prince  Heinricli; 
every  one  rose  from  their  scats,  and  from  all  sides, 
from  the  banks  and  from  the  boats  as  well  as  the 
large  ships,  joyous  shouts  of  welcome  arose.  The 
band  struck  up  Heil  Dir  iin  Siegerkranz,  and  just  as 
the  Crown  Prince  was  bowing  pleasantly  in  acknov/1- 
edgment,  the  sun  broke  through  the  clouds,  shedding 
its  brilliant  light  over  the  w^hole  scene  of  varied  colour; 
the  water  glittered,  the  flags  fluttered  gaily,  and  wood 
and  meadows  looked  as  fresh  as  May.  We  had  the 
brightest  of  weathers  on  the  green  banks  of  the  Spree, 
regular  Hohenzollern  Aveather  ! 

Then  the  races  began.  The  firing  of  a  gun  was  the 
signal  that  the  crews  had  started  far  off  down  the 
river  beyond  the  Bammel-ecke,  where  likewise  thou- 
sands had  taken  up  their  stand;  at  the  same  moment 
a  red  balloon  was  hoisted  to  the  top  of  a  high  flagstaff, 
and  looked  exactly  like  a  monstrous  poppy  in  the 
green  surroundings  of  nature.  Nothing  could,  of 
course,  yet  be  seen  of  the  boats,  but  soon  they 
were  to  be  seen  coming  round  the  corner.  Those 
who  had  field-glasses  turned  them  to  the  point  where 
they  had  appeared  far  off.  "  Who  is  in  front  ?  "  was 
asked  right  and  left.  "  Is  it  the  Berlin  men  ?  "— "  The 
Magdeburg  crew  seem  to  be  even  with  them  !  " — 
"  Where  are  the  Stettiners  ?  " — "  Rather  far  behind." — 
"The  Berlin  men  are  in  front!" — "Now  they  are 
coming  to  the  curve,  then  we  shall  know  !  " — "  Bravo, 
the  Berlin  men  are  ahead." — The  boats  were  coming 
up,  the  crew  with  the  large  red  star  on  their  backs 
were  in  front,  the  light  blue  Stettiners  not  far  behind. 
Now  we  shall  see  !  How  they  dipped  their  oars, 
quicker  and  quicker,  and  with  increasing  force  every 
moment.     The   boats  skimmed   along  the  water  like 


and  tJie  Berlin  Crezv   Win.  41 

razors.  Then  the  front  boat  flew  past  the  goal  !  It 
was  the  red-starred  crew  of  the  Berlin  Rowing  Club  ! 
They  had  won  ! 

I  was  so  excited  that  I  could  scarcely  join  in  the 
universal  shouts  that  welcomed  them,  but  Dr.  Wrenz- 
chen  shouted  enough  for  two,  and  smirked  away 
enough  for  three;  he  is  always  as  happy  as  a  little 
king  about  anything  that  confers  honour  upon  Berlin  ! 
The  crews  then  rested  upon  their  oars.  How  they 
panted  !  It  must  be  regular  horse-work  to  come  in 
first.  They  then  saluted  the  Crown  Prince  and  rowed 
back. 

The  shouts  of  delight  were,  however,  suddenly 
somewhat  damped  by  the  appearance  of  a  cloud,  from 
which  fell  a  shower  of  peculiarly  large  drops  of  rain. 
Umbrellas  were  put  up,  and  in  a  second  the  whole 
gay  and  festive  scene  had  vanished.  This  was  only 
for  a  minute,  however,  for  to  judge  from  the  laughter 
and  merriment  beneath  the  roof  of  umbrellas  most 
people  seemed  to  have  adapted  themselves  to  the  in- 
evitable, and  were  having  their  fun;  and,  indeed,  ill 
humour  will  not  make  small  misfortunes  one  jot  the 
better.  It  was  only  those  who  had  on  new  velvet 
dresses  that  did  not  join  heartily  in  the  merriment; 
they  would  certainly  have  to  send  their  garments  to 
Spindler  to  be  steamed  and  done  up,  and  would  thus 
lose  their  fresh  look.  At  any  fete  where  it  is  likely 
to  rain,  simple  dresses  are,  therefore,  generally  to  be 
preferred. 

I  was  absorbed  in  thought  under  my  umbrella,  when 
Carl  whispered  to  me,  "  Did  you  see  them  ?  " — "  Who  ? " 
I  asked. — "  The  Bergfeldts." — "  Is  it  possible  ?  "  I  ex- 
claimed.— "  Emil  is  over  there  with  his  betrothed  and 
his  future  mother-in-law  ;  Bergfeldt  and  his  wife  are 
in  front  of  us,  down  there  in  the  most  expensive  seats." 


"  Umbrellas  Dozimy 


— "  Of  course  she  must  be  here,  things  couldn't  go  on 
without  her  !  "  T  replied,  annoyed  at  her  presumption, 
"  otherwise  she  might  have  been  content  with  other 
seats." — "  They  are  having  champagne,"  added  Carl. 
— This  cost  me  a  laugh. — "  They  ought  rather  to  keep 
their  money  and  pay  their  brewer,"  said  I  ;  "  she 
understands  as  little  about  champagne  as  a  peasant 
about  cucumber  salad.  We  might  ourselves  have  had 
champagne,  Carl,  only  we  don't  care  to  be  so  preten- 
tious. However,  if  you  were  to  offer  me  a  cup  of 
coffee,  I  should  most  gladly  accept  it.  It  would  be 
uncomfortable  to  me  to  sit  down  there,  in  such  a 
bumptious  kind  of  way  like  some  persons." 

The  rain  continued  pouring  for  some  time,  but  when 
some  one  in  a  loud  voice  called  out,  "  Umbrellas 
down,"  they  were  all  clapped  to  at  once,  for  a  com- 
mand properly  given  is  always  obeyed,  and  not  a 
single  en  tons  cas  would  have  been  tolerated.  It  was 
clearing  up  again  also,  and  the  sun  was  shining  over 
on  the  Miiggel  Hills.  Before  very  long  we  should 
have  the  sun  again  ourselves. 

*'  We  shall  have  the  best  of  weathers  yet,"  said  I  to 
Betti,  who,  however,  paid  no  heed  to  my  remark,  and 
kept  looking,  in  a  melancholy  kind  of  way,  across  the 
water.  I  watched  her  a  little,  and  then  said  to  her 
anxiously  :  "  Child,  are  you  crying?  " — "  Oh,  no,"  she 
replied,  "  it  was  but  a  drop  of  rain,"  and  she  dried  her 
eyes.  "  If  those  Bergfeldts  are  the  cause  of  her 
trouble,"  I  thought,  "  it  really  is  disgraceful  of  the 
family." 

In  trying  to  discover  what  she  was  looking  at,  I  saw 
a  young  man  I  knew  very  well  talking  to  several 
others,  some  little  w^ay  below  in  front  of  us.  It  was 
Herr  Max  and  his  friends  ;  but  although  I  tried  with 
Carl's  opera-glass  to  find  Felix  Schmidt  among  them, 


TJie  Race  for  the  Emperor  s  Prize.  43 

I  did  not  succeed.  I  knew  then  what  the  drop  of  rain 
meant  :  tender  recollections  had  changed  into  a  tear, 
which  in  its  turn  flowed  away  into  nothing,  like  the 
unexpressed  hope  which  we  had  both  cherished  in  our 
hearts — my  silent  child  and  I. 

Our  attention,  however,  had  again  to  be  turned  to 
the  regatta,  for  one  of  the  most  important  races  was 
about  to  take  place,  namely,  for  the  Emperor's  prize. 
This  was  a  challenge  cup,  held  for  the  year  by  the  club 
that  won  it,  and  which  had  then  to  be  competed  for 
anew.  Last  year  the  Berlin  Rowing  Club  won  it,  and 
now  the  Berlin  Rowing  Society,  a  Bremen  and  a 
Frankfort  crew  were  going  to  try  for  it.  Not  any  of 
the  other  crews  succeeded  in  getting  it,  however,  and 
after  the  Frankfurters  had  twice  run  into  the  Bremen 
boat,  they  were  not  allowed  to  join  in  the  third  start. 
The  Berlin  Rowing  Club  won  the  Emperor's  challenge 
cup  again,  so  it  will  remain  in  Berlin,  where,  indeed, 
it  really  belongs.  The  Crown  Prince  had  the  crew  of 
the  winnmg  boat  introduced  to  him,  and  talked  a  good 
deal  to  them,  and  we  were  not  far  off.  The  Prince  is 
reported  to  have  said  that  he  takes  the  greatest  interest 
in  rowing,  and  that  the  Club  might  always  depend 
upon  him  attending  their  sports  if  his  presence  was 
desired.     That  was  truly  splendid  of  him. 

The  Berlin  victories  had  already  induced  Dr. 
Wrenzchen  to  change  his  opinion  about  boating,  and 
when  he  heard  what  the  Prince  had  said,  he  forthwith 
buried  the  hatchet  which  he  had  hitherto  always 
swung  at  Uncle  Fritz's  head  when  they  got  on  to  the 
subject  of  rowing.  "  Well,  old  boy,  what  do  you  say 
now?"  Uncle  Fritz  asked  him. — "They  are  a  set  of 
confounded  fellows,  those  boating  men  of  yours,"  said 
fhe  doctor  playfully. — I  ventured  to  remark  that  I 
found    his    language    very    unsuitable,    and    added  : 


44  Refreshed  zvitJi  Coffee. 

"Dear  Doctor,  on  a  day  of  such  honour  to  Berlin  as 
this  you  might  pay  more  heed  to  the  choice  of  your 
words,  or  has  the  breeze  from  the  water  already  had  a 
bad  effect  upon  you  ?  What  are  our  neighbours  likely 
to  think  of  us  \  " — "  Dear  little  mother-in-law,  it's  only 
external,"  said  he  in  reply,  and  went  off  with  Uncle  Fritz 
to  have  a  glass  in  honour  of  their  reconciliation. 

When  they  returned  the  Doctor  had  actually  become 
a  paying  member  of  the  Club,  which,  in  my  opinion, 
he  ought  not  to  have  done  in  that  offhand  way  with- 
out Emmi's  approval.  It  was  for  him  to  consider  that 
it  would  give  rise  to  other  outlays  of  money  which 
might  be  spent  in  a  more  useful  way,  for  instance,  in 
purchasing  sufficient  crawfish  to  go  round  when  next 
he  gives  a  dinner  party. 

Between  the  parts  we  descended  from  our  platform 
and  sat  down  at  one  of  the  many  tables  which  the 
proprietor  of  the  Restaurant  had  set  up  among  the 
trees.  Carl  treated  us  to  the  promised  cups  of  coffee, 
with  which,  I  think,  we  were  more  content  than  other 
folks  with  their  champagne.  Emmi  as  well  as  Betti 
agreed  v/ith  me  in  this,  for  neither  of  them  care  about 
champagne,  and  I  myself  never  liked  it  even  when  a 
girl.  When  the  Aveather  is  chilly,  with  rain  every  now 
and  again,  all  sensible  people  prefer  something  hot, 
except  those,  of -course,  who  are  pretentious  and  make 
a  dead  set  at  their  health  by  drinking  what's  cold. 
That  is  certainly  not  my  way.  Uncle  Fritz  took  us  to 
see  the  prizes,  which  were  tastefully  arranged  upon  a 
table  under  the  oak  trees  ;  gold  and  silver  goblets,  a 
challenge  shield  in  silver,  and  other  valuable  articles 
either  for  decorating  mediaeval  Germ.an  rooms  or  for 
quenching  thirst.  All  were  beautiful  and  artistic. 
While  my  daughters  were  examining  the  different 
things,  and  Uncle  Fritz  was  explaining  the  meaning 


Heri'  Max  is  Catechised.  45 

of  the  ornamentations,  I  suddenly  perceived  HerrMax 
close  to  us,  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  I  had  laid 
hold  of  him.  He  did  not  seem  prepared  for  this,  as  I 
divined  from  his  embarrassed  look,  but  I  did  not  give 
him  time  to  recover  himself,  and  said  at  once  :  "  It  is 
fortunate  that  we  have  met,  for  I  must  have  a  word  with 
you.  Please  give  me  your  arm." — He  did  so,  and  be- 
fore he  had  time  to  utter  a  word  we  were  out  of  the 
girls'  sight  in  among  the  pine  trees,  where  the  Griinau 
Society  for  Improvements  in  the  Neighbourhood  have 
laid  out  a  number  of  roundabout  pathways,  which, 
however,  are  not  patronised  by  straight-forvvard-going 
people. 

I  began  by  saying  :  "  I  have  much  to  complain  of, 
Herr  Max,  and  may  at  once  tell  you  that  it  concerns 
your  friend  Felix's  behaviour  towards  me  and  mine. 
You  are  his  friend,  I  believe  ?  " — "  Most  certainly,"  he 
replied. — "  Well,  then,  I  am  right  in  addressing  myself 
to  you  ;  as  a  true  friend  you  will  not  withhold  from 
him  anything  I  may  say." — He  was  about  to  answer, 
but  I  continued  :  "  Please  do  not  interrupt  me,  it  is 
my  turn  now,  one  after  the  other.  You  may  claim  the 
same  right  afterwards.  Why  did  your  friend  not  ac- 
cept the  invitation  to  my  daughter's  wedding,  although 
I  wrote  him  a  special  note  ?  Why  did  he  not  even 
take  the  trouble  to  send  me  an  excuse  ?  What  reason 
had  we  given  him  for  treating  us  with  such  want  of 
consideration  ?  I  think  he  had  no  cause  for  thinking  us 
inhospitable.  And  you  yourself  have  not  acted  very 
much  better.     What  can  you  say  in  his  justification  ?  " 

He  stood  before  me,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  gravel 
path,  as  if  his  answer  were  to  be  found  there.  Then 
raising  his  kindly  blue  eyes,  which  seemed  to  have  a 
sorrowful  look  about  them,  he  said  in  a  low  voice, 
"  Nothine  !  " 


^.6  "  TJicn  let  inc  know  the  mystery^ 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  I  asked. — "  I  cannot  and  dare  not  say 
more,"  he  replied. 

"You  were  frank,  and  showed  confidence  in  me  at 
Tegel.  You  seemed  happy  in  your  friend's  happiness 
then.  Are  you  as  honestly  fond  of  him  to-day  as  you 
were  then  ?  " — ■'  Undoubtedly,"  he  said  firmly,  and  his 
face  brightened  up. 

"  Then  let  me  know  the  mystery." — He  again  be- 
came silent,  but  after  a  little  said  :  "The  time  has  not 
yet  come  for  me  to  speak,  but  you  may  rest  assured 
that  you  shall  know  all  when  I  need  no  longer  be 
silent,  and  I  trust,  then,  that  all  will  turn  out  for  the 
best." — "  There  is  nothing  very  definite  in  all  that," 
said  I  ;  "can  you  not  be  a  little  more  intelligible  ?" 
He  made  no  reply,  but  asked  :  "  May  I  send  him  your 
kind  remembrances  ?  some  such  message  would,  I 
know,  be  very  welcome  to  him." — "  So  he  is  not  in 
town?" — "No,  Felix  has  left  Berlin  for  a  time." — 
"Why?" — "To  gain  experience  in  his  business." — 
"  Well,  you  may  send  him  my  kind  remembrances,  for 
that  matter,  but,  if  we  were  to  meet,  I  do  not  know 
that  I  should  have  any  very  pleasant  words  for  him  ; 
and  I  cannot  say  that  you  with  your  mysterious  talk 
are  any  more  to  my  liking." — "  I  am  sorry  to  have 
aroused  your  displeasure,  but  I  will  gladly  bear  with 
it  for  my  friend's  sake." — "  I  do  not  say  I  have  any- 
thing very  much  against  you,  but  still  there's  a  smell 
of  burning,  and  in  spite  of  your  friendship  for  him, 
you  can't  deceive  me.  I  trust  to  your  keeping  your 
promise  when  the  time  comes." — "  I  shall  consider  it 
my  duty,  however  hard  a  one  it  may  be." 

As  I  found  that  there  was  nothing  sensible  to  be  got 
out  of  him,  we  turned  back.  As  we  passed  the  stand 
where  the  carriages  were  all  drawn  up,  I  saw  Emil 
Bergfeldt  standing  beside  a  grand  turn-out.     As  soon 


About  Berlin.  47 


as  he  saw  me  he  commenced  fussing  about  with  tlie 
horses,  as  if  the  position  of  some  strap  had  to  be 
altered,  then  he  examined  the  off-horse  like  a  pro- 
fessional horse  dealer,  although  his  knowledge  of 
horseflesh  could  have  been  learned  only  from  the 
sausages  he  had  in  his  own  home. 

Just  then  the  coachman  brought  him  a  glass  of  grog, 
which  he  had  evidently  ordered  on  the  sly,  for  he 
flushed  up  when  he  saw  that  I  had  noticed  him  ;  he 
tried  to  wave  the  coachman  off ;  however,  mistaking 
what  Emil  meant,  the  man  cam.e  up  the  closer  in 
handing  him  the  glass.  "I  wonder  whether  he  often 
has  a  glass  like  that  in  secret  ? "  thought  I,  *'  or  is  it 
only  to-day  on  account  of  the  damp  ?"  I  determined 
to  talk  the  matter  over  with  Augusta  Weigelt. 

The  regatta  had  meanwhile  been  continued,  and  the 
Berlin  men  came  off  first  in  everything.  If  Berlin 
were  one  day  to  become  a  maritime  city,  its  boating 
men  might  render  the  same  services  at  a  sea-fight  on 
the  wet  element,  as  our  lancers  do  on  dry  land — they 
are  such  plucky  fellows.  In  a  sculling  race  a  Breslau 
man  came  off  first,  and  on  reaching  the  goal  he  got  as 
much  cheering  as  the  Berlin  men  had  previously.  For, 
of  course,  every  one  must  have  his  due. 

I  am  quite  willing  to  admit  that,  in  spite  of  the 
Bergfeldts  and  Herr  Max,  I  have  rarely  enjoyed  my- 
self so  much  as  at  this  regatta,  "  To  think  of  all  that 
this  Berlin  of  ours  can  accomplish,"  said  I  to  Carl, 
"  it  makes  me  feel  quite  proud,  although,  of  course, 
rov/ing  cannot  be  said  to  be  appropriate  for  ladies, 
if  only  on  account  of  the  dress  they  wear,  it  would  be 
too  barbarous  for  us." — Carl  replied  :  "With  such 
sports  our  young  men  aren't  likely  to  get  effeminate, 
and  the  desire  to  be  first  in  every  field  won't  harm  the 
Germans   either." — "  But   all    our  young   men    can't 


48  In  a  state  of  great  cntJinsiasvi. 

devote  themselves  to  rowing,  surely,"  I  added. — ■ 
"  That's  not  necessary,"  replied  Carl,  "  the  good  ex- 
ample will  have  an  effect.  Let  every  one  try  to  be 
first  in  his  own  special  department,  and  to  surpass  his 
competitors  in  good  sound  work." — "  You  are  no 
doubt  right,"  said  I  ;  "  in  matters  of  national  economy 
you  know  more  than  I  do." 

We  returned  to  Berlin  by  a  special  train  of  super- 
human length.  The  high-road,  which  runs  along  by 
the  railway,  was  crowded  with  vehicles.  The  passen- 
gers in  the  train  waved  their  handkerchiefs  to  those 
travelling  on  the  high-road,  and  they  waved  cheerily 
back,  no  matter  whether  they  were  the  occupants  of 
grand  carriages,  waggonettes,  milk  carts,  or  any  other 
sort  of  trap  in  family  parties.  Probably  the  reason  of 
this  was  that  all  were  alike  happy — about  the  weather, 
about  the  Crown  Prince,  and  about  the  victories.  And 
the  Crown  Prince  was  pleased  with  his  Berlin  folk 
too,  one  could  easily  see  that.  Prince  Heinrich,  who 
has  already  sailed  right  round  the  earth,  can  nowhere 
in  the  world  have  seen  such  a  sight  as  the  Lake  in  its 
festive  array,  and  the  banks  of  the  Spree  crowded 
with  such  multitudes.  We  were,  in  fact,  all  in  a  state 
of  great  enthusiasm. 

Uncle  Fritz  remained  behind  in  Grlinau  to  attend 
the  Club's  celebration  of  the  glorious  events.  Two 
days  afterwards  he  appeared  on  the  scenes  again,  as 
hoarse  as  if  his  throat  had  been  burned,  and  he  de- 
clared that  he  had  a  perpetual  and  wearisome  ham- 
mering going  on  in  his  head.  "  How  is  that  ?  "  said  I 
sympathetically. — "  From  drinking  such  an  endless 
amount  of  good  healths,  Wilhelmine,"  he  replied  ; 
"we  watered  the  victories  in  pretty  good  stjde." — 
"  Fritz,"  said  I,  "  do  you  call  it  a  '  good  health  '  when 
you  are  scarcely  able  to  see  out  of  your  eyes  ?" 


Of  Draughts  and  Bacilli.  49 

"  Wilhelm,  it  can't  be  helped,"  said  he,  ''  and  it  was 
perfectly  glorious  !  " 


IN  THE  GREEN  GRUNEWALD. 

What  I  am  gradually  coming  to  find  very  curious 
is,  that  we  make  most  of  our  experiences  without 
knowing  it  at  the  time,  and  it  is  only  later  we  find  out 
whether  the  occurrence  was  an  experience  or  not.  For 
instance,  we  may  enjoy  a  delicious  evening  out  in  the 
country,  and  pay  no  heed  to  the  loveliest  of  draughts 
playing  round  about  us  ;  however,  on  the  following 
day,  when  aching  pains  in  the  limbs,  a  stiff  neck, 
rheumatism,  or  some  other  surgical  trouble  makes  its 
appearance  (which  may  be  alleviated  by  volatile  spirit 
of  camphor),  then  we  know  at  once  that  we  have  been 
sitting  in  some  draught,  and  are,  of  course,  one  ex- 
perience the  richer.  Naturally,  we  resolve  never  to 
do  this  a  second  time,  but  on  the  next  occasion  it  may 
not  be  a  draught  at  all  that  we  omitted  to  consider,  but 
sour  milk  or  icy-cold  beer,  and  in  place  of  having  a 
swollen  cheek  we  are  the  victims  of  bacilli  of  the  semi- 
colon shape.  Fortunately,  however,  these  creatures 
cannot  exist  in  very  hot  wine,  as  has  been  discovered 
by  the  Imperial  Sanitary  Association.  And  this  is  a 
mercy,  to  be  sure ;  for  even  though  superficially 
polished  French  people  breed  diseases  in  their  un- 
drained  seaport  towns,  we  in  Berlin  will  not  require 
to  drink  carbolic  punch,  as  Uncle  Fritz  suggested, 
when  our  Government  had  to  send  Dr.  Koch  to  France 
for  a  time,  and  the  daily  papers  were  so  full  of  cholera 
that  one  scarcely  dared  take  them  into  one's  hands. 
Hot  wine  may  be  said  to  be  a  scientific  experience, 
4 


50  About  Hot   Wine, 

effective  even  in  the  case  of  mere  fright,  as  I  learned 
from  what  happened  to  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife. 
She  got  rumblings  in  her  inside  simply  from  reading 
the  papers,  and  couldn't  find  her  pulse  when  she  looked 
for  it,  and  this  put  her  into  an  inconceivable  state  of 
mind.  For,  of  course,  when  the  pulse  ceases,  the  last 
stage  has  arrived,  and  the  person  will  do  well  to  begin 
arranging  about  her  funeral.  However,  a  few  glasses 
of  hot  wine  relieved  the  symptoms  immediately,  and  in 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife  could 
feel  her  pulse  all  over  herself.  She  said  it  was  ham- 
mering away  under  hqr  toes  as  well  as  in  her  temples. 
She  was,  in  fact,  saved. — "  Frau  Buchholz,"  she  said, 
"  if  you  had  not  come  in  accidentally,  who  knows  but 
what  the  black  omnibus  might  have  had  to  be  got 
ready  for  me  ?  " — "  Your  case  did  certainly  seem  rather 
serious,"  I  replied,  "  but  still  you  were  pretty  far  from 
requiring  to  be  screwed  down.  It  was  only  fright 
that  had  struck  your  inside." — "  I  sha'n't  read  another 
newspaper  till  the  fruit  season  is  over,"  said  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife. — "You  are  quite  right,"  said  I,  "an 
overripe  pear  in  one  hand  and  cholera  reports  in  the 
other,  is  more  than  even  the  giant  Goliath  could  have 
stood." 

Hence  another  experience  I  had  made  was  that 
newspaper  reading  is  not  always  good  for  people,  and 
that  there  is  no  better  means  for  stirring  up  a  pulse 
than  hot  wine.  However,  the  wine  must  be  really  hot, 
even  though  the  temperature  be  twenty-four  degrees 
by  the  stove  in  summer. 

The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  does  not  belong  to  that 
species  of  human  beings  who  try  to  give  themselves 
an  air  of  importance  by  showing  ingratitude,  who,  for 
instance,  when  they  have  been  on  a  visit,  afterwards 
make  out  that  the  beds  were  bad;  or,  after  having  been 


and  Flying  Sand.  ^l 

at  a  party,  fly  off  next  morning  to  people  who  are  a':>- 
solutely  indifferent  about  the  matter,  and  relate  that 
they  cannot  understand  how  persons  can  presume  to 
set  such  dishes  upon  their  table.  No,  she  is  not  a  per- 
son of  that  kind  at  all  ;  when  she  had  recovered  from 
her  attack  of  illness,  she  invited  us  to  an  afternoon 
excursion  to  the  Grunewald,  we  were  to  have  coffee  at 
Paulsborn,  and  then  proceed  by  Schildhorn  to  Pichels- 
bergen.  She  hired  a  grand  carriage  for  the  afternoon, 
a  most  elegant  turn-out  with  a  coachman  m  livery;  his 
great-coat  was  laid  across  the  box-seat,  the  front  of  the 
coat  with  its  bright  buttons — like  a  yard  and  a  half  of 
the  starry  heavens— hanging  down  into  the  carriage. 
We  two  older  ladies  sat  facing  the  horses,  while  Mila, 
her  daughter,  and  Betti  sat  opposite  to  us.  The  gen- 
tlemen were  to  meet  us  towards  evening  in  the  Kaiser- 
Garten,  and  so  we  had  the  whole  of  an  exquisite  after- 
noon all  to  ourselves. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Kurfiirsten-Damm, 
where  the  houses  end,  is  rather  sandy,  and  that  the 
particles  have  developed  a  high  degree  of  flying  power; 
however,  as  I  had  put  on  my  new  potato-peel  coloured 
dress,  with  light  brown  satin  trimmings,  I  looked  none 
the  worse  for  the  sand,  whereas  the  Police-lieutenant's 
wife,  in  her  black  costume  and  goodly  amount  of 
fringe,  soon  looked  as  if  she  were  dressed  in  packing 
paper.  At  every  light  breeze  some  of  the  district  got 
in  between  our  teeth,  causing  a  grating  sensation. 
However,  this  we  did  not  mind  very  much,  for  we 
knew  that  in  Paulsborn  a  coffee-pot,  with  its  alleviat- 
ing contents,  was  awaiting  us. 

How  long  will  it  be  before  the  Kurfiirsten-Damm.  is 
finished,  I  wonder?  Berlin  will  then  extend  as  far  as 
Grunewald;  the  Zoological  Gardens  will  come  to  be 
the  centre  of  the  city,  the   Ilalen  Lake  will  take  the 


52  TJie  Bergfeldts. 

place  of  the  Gold  Fish  Pond,  and  the  Grunevvald  itself 
will  be  another  Thiergarten.  An  inhabitant  in  this 
party  of  the  city  will  have  to  use  a  telescope  to  see  the 
Victory  Column,  it  wiH  be  such  a  long  way  off.  When 
this  large  suburb  of  the  future  has  been  properly 
developed,  Berlin  will  reach  right  to  the  Grunewald. 
And  develop  it  will,  if  we  have  peace,  which  is  very 
advantageous  for  every  branch  of  business,  Carl  says 
(except,  of  course,  for  powder-mills  and  plaster-band- 
age works,  where,  it  is  said,  there  is  great  grumbling 
just  now;  but  Bismarck  is  not  likely  to  start  a  war  to 
please  them).  The  shade  and  scent  of  forests,  and  of 
wooded  lakes,  I  have  always  been  immensely  fond  of, 
and  all  this  is  to  be  had  in  the  Grunewald,  unsur- 
passed in  quality.  Still  I  must  confess  that  when 
driving  through  it,  comfortably  reclining  in  a  car- 
riage, the  charms  of  wooded  scenery  act  even  more 
powerfully  upon  me. 

In  accordance  with  these  circumstances  we  con- 
versed purely  in  a  somewliat  higher  range  of  thought, 
more  particularly  about  the  want  of  really  cultivated 
people.  This  led  us  to  speak  of  the  Bergfeldts.  The 
Police-lieutenant's  wife  thought  that  Frau  Bergfeldt 
might  certainly  have  her  good  points;  but  that,  never- 
theless, she  would  not  be  seen  driving  in  the  same 
carriage  with  her  through  the  Grunewald.  "  Now,  you 
see,  Betti,"  said  I,  "  that  distinctions  are  necessary; 
this  afternoon  will  be  a  memorable  one  to  us  both, 
will  it  not?" — Mila  thought  that  the  weather  was  su- 
perb, and  that  only  a  very  few  ordinary-looking  people 
were  out  driving.  The  reason,  she  said,  they  never 
went  anywhere  of  a  Sunday  was,  that  there  was  such 
a  mixed  set  of  people  about.  Betti,  who  has  latterly 
been  reading  a  good  deal  about  the  rights  of  humanity 
and  the  equality  of  classes,  was  about  to  make  some 


A    Universal  Experience.  53 

remark  on  the  subject,  when,  fortunately,  the  carriage 
drew  up  in  front  of  the  forester's  house  at  Paulsborn. 
We  all  got  out,  and  Betti  had  to  keep  her  intended  re- 
ply to  herself;  it  would,  I  feel  sure,  have  displeased 
the  Police-lieutenant's  wife.  I  do  not  at  all  despise 
any  rank  or  any  grade,  and  value  every  one  who  hon- 
estly pushes  his  way  in  this  world;  yet,  in  spite  of  all 
the  books  on  equality,  it  would  never  enter  my  head 
to  give  my  grocer,  milkman,  or  sweep,  a  the  dansant. 

We  had  our  coffee,  went  over  the  huntinof-Iodg-e  that 
stands  so  romantically  by  the  lake,  and  then  drove 
further  through  the  green  forest  till  wc  reached  the 
Havel;  after  this  the  carriage  rolled  slowly  along  the 
high-road,  from  which  we  had  a  charming  view  across 
the  forest  and  the  water.  How  beautiful  it  is  out 
there  !  No  wonder  so  many  restaurants  have  sprung 
up  at  the  foot  of  this  hilly  shore.  We  halted  at  the 
Kaiser-Garten,  where  the  gentlemen  were  to  meet  us. 
Of  course,  neither  of  them  had  yet  arrived.  In  one's 
young  days  a  lover  never  keeps  his  lady-love  waiting 
for  him;  on  the  contrary,  he  is  sure  to  be  at  the  ap- 
pointed place  before  she  is;  but  when  one  has  become 
a  somev/hat  well-worn  article,  gentlemen  are  in  no 
such  hurry.  This  is  what  is  called  a  universal  expe- 
rience, and  has  been  made  by  numbers  of  persons. 
Carl,  however,  I  must  say,  has  always  been  very  punc- 
tual, except  when  unavoidably  detained,  and  then,  of 
course,  he  was  not  to  blame. 

I  should  have  been  very  glad  to  find  the  gentlemen 
there,  for  pleasant  as  ladies'  society  may  be,  still,  an 
exclusively  feminine  afternoon  does  become  rather  un- 
interesting in  the  end.  All  the  more  pleasant  it  was, 
therefore,  when  a  gentleman  came  up  to  our  table, 
and  politely  bowed  to  us.  At  the  first  moment  I  did 
not  recognise  him,  but  it  proved  to  be  Herr  Kleines. 


54  Paris  Fashions. 


"What  a  sight  you  look,"  I  exclaimed;  "  have  you  got 
your  younger  brother's  clothes  on  ?  " — "  Not  a  bit  of 
it,"  replied  Herr  Kleines,  looking  with  admiration  at 
his  closely-fitting  garments,  "it's  chike  !  " — "It's 
what  ? "  asked  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife,  and  with 
this  she  turned  to  me,  requesting  me  to  introduce  him 
to  her,  and  yet  she  must  have  remembered  meeting 
him  on  Emmi's  wedding-day. — One  is  not  likely  soon 
to  forget  such  an  odd  creature. — "  It's  chike  !  "  he  re- 
peated, and  then  added  by  way  of  explanation  :  "  the 
latest  Paris  fashion." — "Well,  no  doubt,  they  are  a  crazy 
lot,  those  French  people,"  I  exclaimed,  "  too  scrimp 
and  short  in  everything." — "  With  their  hair,  too, 
shaved  off  like  felons,"  chimed  in  the  Police-lieuten- 
ant's wife. — "  One's  hair  like  this  is  just  tip-top,"  said 
Herr  Kleines,  smiling  triumphantly  at  his  own  degen- 
eracy, "  but  then  it's  not  every  one  that  understands 
it." — "  There  may  be  something  in  it  to  be  understood 
very  likely,  but  beautiful  it  certainly  is  not.  But  pray 
sit  down,  we  are  glad  to  see  you  '  chite  '  or  not." — "  It's 
chike,"  said  Herr  Kleines.—"  Whether  it's  chike  or 
chite,  it's  much  the  same  thing,"  I  replied;  "at  all 
events,  I've  never  seen  you  so  odd-looking." 

Herr  Kleines  said  he  had  a  friend  with  him,  a  highly 
intellectual  young  fellow,  and  asked  if  he  might  in- 
troduce him  to  us.  The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  bowed 
condescendingly,  and  said,  "With  pleasure;"  where- 
upon Herr  Kleines  disappeared. — "  Well,  I  never," 
said  Betti,  "  how  can  any  man  be  so  monkeyish  as  to 
imitate  the  French  in  such  tomfoolery,  as  Her  Kleines 
does?" — "I  think  it's  very  chic,''  Mila  remarked. — 
"  The  word's  chite,"  said  I. — "  No,  it's  chike,"  said  the 
Police-lieutenant's  wife.  Luckily,  Herr  Kleines  re- 
turned, else,  probably,  there  would  in  the  end  have 
been  a  regular  quarrel  about  that  stupid  suit  of  his. 


Hcrr  Pfeiffer  on  iJic  Present  Age.  55 

He  introduced  his  friend  Herr  Pfeiffer,  who  made  a 
very  pleasant  impression.  He  was  a  man  of  middle 
height,  had  a  beautiful  dark  beard,  and  manipulated 
his  eye-glasses  most  gracefully.  I  noticed  when  he 
took  off  his  hat  to  us  that  there  were  signs  of  his 
growing  out  at  his  crown;  but  it  seems  often  to  happen, 
that  when  young  men  begin  to  become  dangerously 
good-looking,  their  hair  commences  to  fall  off  ;  in  this 
way  careful  Nature  manages  to  lessen  the  mischief 
they  may  cause  in  families  with  young  daughters. 

We  very  soon  found  ourselves  conversing  pleasantly, 
as  Herr  Pfeiffer  agreed  with  us  that,  in  spite  of  all 
the  new  communal  schools,  there  was  a  dearth  of 
really  cultivated  people,  and  that  it  was  only  rarely 
that  one  met  with  persons  who  could  appreciate  the 
higher  aims  of  life.  He  said  that  on  this  account  he 
felt  himself  very  isolated,  and  generally  congealed  his 
feelings  from  the  unsympathising  world,  which,  never- 
theless, would  not  leave  him  to  himself.  That  he 
sometimes  fied  to  the  statues  in  the  Museum,  where 
he  felt,  fully  and  trul}^,  what  he  might  have  said,  had 
but  the  statues  been  the  living  creatures  of  wondrous 
beauty,  which  they  once  had  been  when  created  by 
pure  Hellenism  in  the  days  of  Pericles  and  Anaxi- 
mander.  That,  on  the  other  hand,  the  present  age — 
which  he  must  term  heartless — shallow — egoistical — 
he  was  inclined  to  despise.  Nay,  that  he  did  despise 
it.  All  this  he  said  with  perfect  assurance,  and  in  a 
bass  voice  which  sounded  as  if  he  had  been  speaking 
through  a  funnel. 

While  we  were  conversing  with  Herr  Pfeiffer,  Herr 
Kleines  went  off  with  Betti  and  Mila  for  a  stroll 
through  the  garden,  to  show  them  the  curiosities  of 
the  place:  an  uncleanly  eagle  in  a  cage  (which  can 
perform  no  tricks  whatever,  except  blinking  with  its 


56  On  the  Ideal. 

eyes,  and  eating),  the  monkeys  and  rabbits,  the  racing 
ring,  the  donkey-riding,  and  whatever  else  the  place 
offered  in  the  way  of  instruction  and  amusement.  We, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  engrossed  by  the  charms  of 
Art,  which,  of  course,  is  as  good  to  talk  about  as  to 
look  at. 

Herr  Pfeiffer  admitted  that  I  was  right  in  maintain- 
ing that  antique  objects  decidedly  become  more  valu- 
able from  being  buried  in  the  ground.  "That  they 
are,"  he  said,  "and  it  is  at  once  evident  when  they 
have  been  ;  but  the  great,  dull-minded  multitude 
passes  them  by  without  interest ;  the  general  public 
can  only  appreciate  operettas,  what  is  low  and  vulgar, 
the  lightly  draped  Muse,  the  equivocal."  For  his  part, 
he  only  liked  the  Fledermaus  and  the  Beggar  Student — ■ 
with  those  one  might  be  diverted,  and  he  was.  The 
Police-lieutenant's  wife  agreed  with  him  in  this,  and 
said  that  she  too  liked  melodies  that  she  could  re- 
member, and  that  when  she  went  to  a  theatre  she  had 
no  wish  to  be  bored. 

While  we  were  sitting  thus,  in  the  best  of  humours, 
meandering  through  the  realm  of  the  Ideal,  Betti  re- 
turned, and  was  alone.  "  Where  are  the  others  ? " 
asked  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife. — "  Herr  Kleines 
has  taken  Mila  out  in  a  boat." — "Without  my  permis- 
sion ?  " — "  My  friend  Georg  will,  I  am  sure,  see  her 
safely  ashore  again,"  said  Herr  Pfeiffer. — "But  it  is 
already  beginning  to  get  dark,  and  I  consider  it  im- 
proper that  my  daughter  should  be  out  on  the  water 
alone  with  him,"  replied  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife, 
annoyed. — "  I  will  vouch  for  my  friend  acting  honour- 
ably," said  Herr  Pfeiffer  confidently,  and  in  a  specially 
deep  tone  of  voice,  "  I  cannot  endure  anything  even 
hinted  at  against  him." — "There  is  no  need  for  you 
to  defend  him,  as  no  one  has  yet  accused  him  of  any- 


In  Hot  Pursidt.  57 

thing,"  interposed  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife.  Just 
as  Herr  Pfeiffer  was  about  to  assume  an  offended 
look,  my  Carl  and  the  Police-lieutenant  himself  ap- 
peared. As  soon  as  the  latter  had  exchanged  a  few 
words  with  us,  he  inquired  where  his  daughter  was. — • 
"  She  is  out  on  the  lake. " — "  Alone  ?  " — "  No,  with  Herr 
Kleines." — "  Who's  Herr  Kleines  ? " — "  A  chite,"  said  L 
— "No,  the  word's  chike,"  said  Betti. — "A  young 
man  got  up  in  the  latest  of  Paris  fashions,  at  all 
events,"  added  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife. — "  That's 
enough  for  me,"  said  Carl;  "  I  propose  we  take  a  boat 
and  bring  them  ashore;  I,  for  my  part,  would  not  like 
my  daughter  to  be  out  on  the  Havel  with  him,  and 
night  setting  in.  Water  is  treacherous." — The  three 
gentlemen  speedily  hired  a  boat,  and  set  off  in  chase 
of  Herr  Kleines,  as  if  he  had  been  a  pirate  whom  the 
avenging  arm  of  the  law  meant  to  catch  by  the  collar. 
The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  then  began  to  make 
me  reproaches  for  having  introduced  Herr  Kleines  to 
her.  "  I  did  so  at  your  own  request,  as  you  may 
kindly  remember,"  I  replied. — ''You  might  have  known 
his  character,  and  have  warned  me." — "As  to  warn- 
ing, I  had  no  reason  to  think  of  it." — "Yes,  you  had, 
for  when  a  young  man  dresses  in  such  a  style,  his  only 
object  can  be  to  make  love  to  girls;  the  very  short- 
ness of  his  hair  shows  one  that  there's  something  of 
a  culprit  about  him." — "  He's  doing  no  more  than  fol- 
lowing the  fashion." — "  My  husband  will  pretty  soon 
let  him  know  what  fashion  he's  after,"  she  replied,  so 
angrily,  that  I  thought  it  wiser  to  make  no  further 
remark  to  her,  and  so  turned  to  Betti  with  the  ques- 
tion :  "  Why  didn't  you  go  with  them  ?  " — "  Herr 
Kleines  seemed  to  me  to  know  nothing  about  rowing, 
and  I  had  no  inclination  to  get  drowned." — Bctti's 
reply  put  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife  into  a  terrible 


58  The   Wanderers   Return. 

state  of  anxiety. — "  Where  can  they  be  ?  They  ought 
to  be  back  now  !  What  can  be  keeping  my  husband  ?  " 
— We  all  went  down  to  the  shore.  There  was  not  a 
sign  of  any  boat,  for  the  sky  had  become  overcast, 
and  it  seemed  pure  madness  to  be  out  on  the  water. 

We  were  staring  out  into  the  dark,  and  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  was  getting  into  a  state  of  despera- 
tion, when  some  one  was  heard  calling  out,  "  Oh,  there 
they  are  !  "  And  there,  in  fact,  were  Mila  and  Herr 
Kleines  hurrying  towards  us  through  the  garden. 
"  Now  then,"  I  exclaimed,  "where  have  you  two  come 
from  ?  " — "  We  didn't  care  about  being  on  the  water 
and  so  landed  at  Schildhorn,"  said  Herr  Kleines; 
"  v/e  have  walked  back  from  there." — "And  your  father 
off  in  a  boat  looking  for  you,  you  thoughtless  child," 
exclaimed  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife. — "  And  my  Carl 
too,  and  Herr  Pfeiffer  ditto,"  I  exclaimed;  "how  are 
we  to  get  the  gentlemen  back  ?  " 

There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  wait.  But  how  we 
did  wait !  I  think  Ulysses'  wife,  in  the  olden  days, 
could  not  have  had  a  greater  longing  for  her  husband 
than  we  had  for  ours,  as  well  as  for  Herr  Pfeiffer.  I 
made  use  of  the  opportunity  for  informing  Herr 
Kleines  that  he  would  find  it  pretty  hot  work  to  settle 
matters  with  the  Police-lieutenant,  whereupon  he  pre- 
tended that  he  had  to  catch  a  train  to  the  West  End, 
and  made  off. 

At  last  we  heard  the  splash  of  oars.  "  They've  been 
back  long  since,"  we  called  out  as  the  gentlemen 
landed.  The  Police-lieutenant  was  the  first  to  leap 
ashore.  "Where's  Herr  Kleines?  "he  called  out. — 
"  I'll  stand  guarantee  for  him,  as  I  have  more  than 
once  taken  the  liberty  to  remark,"  replied  Herr 
Pfeiffer. — "  I'm  much  obliged  to  you,"  answered  the 
Police-lieutenant,  "  but  I  mean  him  to  speak  for  him- 


In  the  Cann'an  Plats.  59 

self,  and  it  will  be  some   satisfaction   to  have   his  ad- 
dress from  you." 

The  carriage  was  ordered,  and  we  took  our  seats  in 
it  as  best  we  could.  Harr  Pfeiffer  declined  to  drive 
with  us,  probably  because  he  would  have  had  to  sit 
next  to  the  Police-lieutenant ;  thus  he  preferred 
returning  through  the  Grunewald  on  foot.  We  were 
rather  a  silent  party  going  home,  and  while  we  were 
driving  through  the  forest,  I  could  not  help  thinking 
what  kind  of  dance  the  Police-lieutenant  would  lead 
Hcrr  Kleines.  "  It  cannot  end  very  smoothly  there," 
I  thought.  "  I  certainly  shouldn't  have  the  courage 
to  do  anything,  but  the  Police-lieutenants  may  have 
the  nerves  for  it." 


THE  PORTRAIT. 


Betti  and  I  had  determined  to  pay  several  visits  to 
the  Exhibition  of  Paintings  in  the  Cantian  Platz,  this 
autumn  ;  in  the  first  place,  because  we  generally  go  ; 
secondly,  because  Betti  is  working  away  by  herself  at 
painting  ;  and  thirdly,  because  on  a  first  visit  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  comprehend  Art  in  its  totality,  on 
account  of  the  crowds.  As  a  rule  we  never  went  till 
we  had  learned  from  the  newspapers  which  were  the 
principal  pictures  ;  however,  since  we  have  become 
convinced  that  while  one  reviewer  loses  his  head  over 
a  picture,  another  will  run  it  down  to  such  an  extent 
that  one  wonders  w^hy  the  law  does  not  come  dov.^n 
upon  the  artist,  we  do  not  care  much  what  they  write. 
And  I  personally  care  least  of  all  about  what  Adolf 
Rosenberg  fabricates  in  the  way  of  criticisms  ;  for  I 
now  know  that  he  changes  his  opinion  as  he  may  do 
his  paper-col'ars.     When   (as  he  has  done)  he  asks  a 


6o  On  Swindling  Critics. 

certain  somebody  to  deserve  the  fame  which  the  critics 
have  bestowed  upon  him,  I  cannot  but  suppose  that  he, 
so  to  say,  flings  off  his  articles  without  a  thought ;  for 
surely  he  cannot  intend  deliberately  to  expose  the  way 
of  critics  by  saying  that  they  manufacture  unmerited 
celebrity  !  That  would  be  proclaiming  the  whole 
profession  to  be  a  company  of  swindlers.  No,  I  regard 
the  position  of  critics  as  higher  than  that,  they  have 
never  appeared  to  me  so  utterly  mischievous.  How- 
ever, Adolf  Rosenberg — who  uses  the  "  Grenzboten  " 
as  a  spittoon  for  his  poison — has  at  all  events  acted 
honourably  towards  his  colleagues  in  placing  himself 
in  the  pillory  (by  frankly  confessing  their  worthless 
proceedings),  for  being  himself  a  critic  by  profession, 
he  must  know  how  matters  really  stand. 

The  Exhibition  is  no  doubt  a  practical  kind  of  build- 
ing, but,  as  its  principal  outward  charm — as  seen  from 
the  City  line — seems  to  consist  in  its  being  water-tight, 
it  cannot  be  said  to  lay  claim  to  actual  beauty.  Its 
artistic  contents  we  determined  to-  exam.ine  in  this 
way  :  that  both  of  us  were  quietly  to  note  the  pictures 
that  pleased  us  best,  so  that  when  we  came  to  make 
our  second  peregrination  round  the  gallery  there 
might  be  a  mutual  exchange  of  opinion.  The  plan 
failed,  however,  for  when  we  entered  the  first  room 
we  caught  sight  of  the  life-size  figure  of  a  man  in 
uniform,  which  stood  out  from  a  purple  curtain  with 
a  rich  border  of  gold,  in  the  most  lifelike  manner,  and 
with  an  aristocratic  look.  "  Who  is  that  ?  "  I  asked 
Betti,  forgetting  the  agreement  we  had  made.  She 
read  out  of  the  catalogue  :  "  Friedrich  Franz  the 
Second,  late  Grand  Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Sciiwerin." 
• — "I  could  see  at  once  that  it  must  be  a  prince,"  I 
replied.  "  Who  painted  it  ?  " — "  Fritz  Paulsen,"  she 
said,  reading  on. — "  Goodness,  how  it  all  seems  to  rise 


^^  Mamma,  you  must  be  Painted!'  6i 

up  before  me  ! "  I  exclaimed.  "  Whatever  can  he 
have  thought  of  me?" — "Why,  mamma?" — "Well, 
child,  when  I  was  in  Naples,  I  asked  him  whether  he 
would  paint  my  portrait  some  day,  and  it  Vv'as  almost 
arranged  that  he  should."  "  How  very  nice,"  Betti 
said,  interrupting  me  ;  "a  picture  of  you   for  papa's 

birthday You  couldn't  give  him  anything  more 

beautiful." — "Child,"  said  I,  "what  are  you  thinking 
about?  Haven't  I  just  had  a  most  excellent  photo- 
graph taken  of  myself,  at  Carl  Giinther's,  which  you 
were  all  delighted  with  ?  " — "  And  so  we  are  still,  but 
when  I  look  at  you,  mamma — well,  you  seem  just 
made  for  oils,"  said  the  girl,  laughing.  "  How 
precious  the  picture  would  be  to  us  all  !  "  she  con- 
tinued in  a  more  serious  tone,  "when  .  .  .  " — "When 
I  am  old  and  ugly,"  I  added,  smiling. — "  I  did  not 
mean  that,"  she  answered,  "  but  we  might  not  always 
be  with  you,  and  then,  in  looking  at  your  portrait,  it 
would  be  like  having  your  dear  self,  life-like  before 
us.  Mamma,  you  nitist  be  painted." — "  If  I  were  to  be 
hung  on  my  son-in-law's  wall,  with  a  somewhat  severe 
expression  of  face,  Emmi  might  possibly  be  the  better 
for  it  ;  there  are  proofs  that  the  sight  of  a  picture  has 
roused  a  conscience  for  its  own  good."  After  a  little 
I  added  :  "  Papa  would  grudge  the  money,  I  am 
afraid." — "  It  wouldn't  be  so  very  ruinous,  and,  mam- 
ma, you  could  pay  for  it  yourself." — "  That  would 
merely  be  taking  from  the  debit  and  placing  it  in  the 
credit,"  said  I,  putting  her  off, — "  All  the  little  money 
I  have  put  by,  little  by  little,  I  would  give  towards  it," 
urged  Betti.  "  Oh,  I  am  so  delighted  at  the  thought 
of  the  picture  !  " 

"We  shall  have  to  think  the  matter  well  over 
again,"  said  I,  putting  an  end  to  the  conversation. 
"But  come  now,  Betti,  and  let  us  look  at  the  pictures, 
as  we  proposed  to  do." 


62  Of  the  Modern  Masterpieces, 

While  wandering  from  one  long  room  to  another,  I 
was  conscious  that  my  thoughts  were  not  paj^ing 
proper  heed  to  the  pictures  before  me,  but  were  more 
actively  engaged — than  I  myself  wished — with  my 
future  portrait.  As  often  as  I  caught  sight  of  the 
likeness  of  any  lady,  I  asked  myself,  why  was  her  por- 
trait painted,  and  was  she  justified  in  having  it  done? 
In  a  good  many  cases  the  portrait  had  certainly  not 
been  painted  for  the  sake  of  beauty,  more  probably 
for  the  sake  of  a  likeness.  Several  were  hung  so  high 
that  it  was  impossible  to  judge  in  their  case.  It  then 
occurred  to  me  that  Ludwig  Pietsch  had  made  never- 
to-be-forgotten  remarks  about  my  personal  appear- 
ance ;  and  when  I  came  to  think  the  ^whole  matter 
over — m}^  half-binding  inquiry  of  Professor  Paulsen  in 
Naples,  Betti's  anxious  wish,  my  Carl's  surprise  on 
his  birthday,  and  the  fact  that  I  v^as  not  growing 
younger — made  me  see  that  I  ought  to  give  in  without 
more  ado.  I  beckoned  to  Betti  and  said,  *'  I  am 
wavering  about  giving  in  to  all  your  wishes." — "  Oh, 
how  good  of  you!"  exclaimed  Betti  in  glee.— "But, 
Betti,  I  haven't  sufficient  artistic  enthusiasm  to  make 
my  heart  take  the  decisive  leap,  I  must  find  some 
^picture  that  will  disperse  this  last  bit  of  uncertainty." 
— "  Let  us  look  for  it,  mamma,  I  will  help  you." 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  a  great  number  of  unusual 
pictures  attracted  our  attention,  and  we  could  scarcely 
say  enough  in  admiration  of  the  modern  master- 
pieces. Betti  thought  that  the  portraits  in  black 
— as  if  washed  over  with  liquorice — seemed  to  be 
the  most  fashionable;  but  I  was  not  in  favour  of  that 
funereal  style. — "  What  do  3^ou  say  to  this  ?  "  she  asked 
me,  pointing  to  a  portrait  representing  a  tall  lady  in 
an  olive-green  velvet,  and  looking  as  if  she  would 
have  a  friendly  reply  for  any  one  that  addressed  her. 


and  the  Decrees  of  Fate.  6'^ 

— "Ah,  that  would  be  exactly  to  my  liking,"  said  I; 
"  only,  I  fancy  my  brown  rep  would  suit  me  better, 
and  then  only  about  half  as  large;  the  smaller  frames 
are  sure  to  be  less  expensive." — '*  Well,  have  you  quite 
decided  now,  mamma?"  asked  Betti. — "If  you  think 
that  papa  .  .  .  ." — "That's  sure  to  be  all  right,"  she 
said,  rejoicing,  putting  her  arm  round  me;  "you  dear, 
good  mother,  and  so  you're  really  going  to  be  painted !  " 
— "Child,  child,"  said  I,  "you  are  crushing  me  to  bits. 
Now  let  us  see  who  painted  that  portrait." — "  Here  it 
is  in  big  letters  in  the  corner,"  she  replied,  pointing  to 
the  name.  "  Fritz  Paulsen  !  "  said  I,  reading  it.  It 
was  quite  clear  to  me  now;  it  was  the  decree  of  fate. 

By  the  time  we  left  the  Exhibition  I  had  made  up 
my  mind  that  Carl  should  have  the  surprise  on  his 
birthday,  for  Betti  assured  me  that  paintings  were 
not  only  of  lasting  value,  but  that  their  value  in- 
creased year  by  year. — "  If  they  do  that,  then  there 
can  be  no  loss,"  I  replied;  "and  we  haven't  got  to 
feed  them.  One  thing,  however,  Betti,  I  have  resolved 
upon,  and  that  is  not  to  read  a  mortal  word  about  the 
Exhibition  in  the  papers;  for  if  any  critic — after  a 
bad  night's  rest — were  to  vent  his  ill  humour  upon  the 
portrait  we  both  admired  so  much,  all  inclination  to 
have  myself  painted  would  then  and  there  die  within 
me."  — "  But  supposing  it  were  pronounced  beautiful  ?  " 
— "  That  we  know  ourselves  it  is.  And  was  it  not 
stated  in  Meyer's  popular,  wearisome  lecture,  that 
works  of  art  are  classic  when  the  judgment  of  the 
multitude  is  everlastingly  in  favour  of  them  ?  Well, 
we  two  surely  belong  to  the  multitude  !  " 

A  few  days  af terv/ards  I  drove  over  to  the  Dorotheen 
Strasse,  where  Professor  Paulsen  resides.  When  I 
rang  the  door-bell,  it  was  opened  by  a  woman  who 
showed  me  into  an  anteroom,  and  said  :  "  There's  some 


64  An  Artist's  Studio. 

one  with  Professor  Paulsen  at  present;  who  shall  I 
say  is  waiting  to  see  him  ?  " — I  had  thought  of  taking 
the  Professor  by  surprise,  and  so  replied  :  "  Tell  him 
an  acquaintance  from  Italy  has  come  to  call  upon 
him,  he  will  know  who  it  is." — The  woman  looked  at 
me  doubtfull}^,  and  went  slowly  towards  the  door 
which  led  into  the  studio;  but  before  disappearing, 
she  gave  a  glance  at  the  objects  of  art  and  the  old 
china  ornaments  that  stood  upon  a  table  in  front  of 
the  mirror,  and  upon  an  antique  cupboard — as  if  to 
inform  me  that  every  article  had  been  counted.  That 
is  assuredly  the  domestic  dragon  who  guards  the 
treasures,  I  thought,  and  I  was  not  far  wrong,  as  I 
afterwards  learned,  for  the  woman  Bachmann,  as  she 
is  called,  looks  after  the  household  affairs  with  more 
than  an  ordinary  sense  of  duty. 

Before  very  long  Professor  Paulsen  came  in.  He 
recognised  me  at  once,  and  said  that  as  his  visitor  had 
left  he  was  now  quite  at  my  disposal,  but  asked  me  to 
excuse  him  for  a  few  minutes;  and,  in  fact,  he  re- 
mained away  only  a  very  short  time,  and  then  invited 
me  into  his  studio. 

It  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  been  in  a 
studio,  which  I  had  hitherto  pictured  to  myself  as  an 
empty  room,  where,  in  the  midst  of  the  utmost  con- 
fusion, pictures  were  painted.  I  must  confess  my  idea 
was  founded  upon  a  non-acquaintance  with  artistic 
concerns.  I  found  myself  in  a  room  that  reminded 
me  of  one  in  the  Italian  palaces,  except  that  Herr 
Paulsen's  studio  showed  a  much  greater  attention  to 
cleanliness,  and  was  arranged  more  with  a  view  to 
comfort.  Parts  of  the  walls  were  covered  with  tapes- 
try, others  were  adorned  from  top  to  bottom  with  pic- 
tures, as  in  the  Museum.  Weapons,  too,  were  arranged 
on  the  wall,  and  on  some  shelves  were  figures,  dishes, 


Discussing  the  Portrait. 


jugs,  and  articles  in  coloured  glass.  Then  there  were 
a  number  of  antique  chairs  and  couches,  tables,  cabi- 
nets, and  rugs;  everything  good  of  its  kind,  and  won- 
derfully in  keeping  altogether. 

"Well,  I  must  say,"  was  my  exclamation  on  recov- 
ering from  my  first  amazement,  "  I  had  never  expected 
this;  it  will  be  a  pleasure,  truly,  to  be  painted  amid 
such  surroundings.  I  must  tell  you  at  once.  Professor 
Paulsen,  that  I  have  come  with  this  intention." 

We  sat  down  in  a  comfortable  corner.  The  Pro- 
fessor asked  me  whether  I  had  had  lunch,  and  would 
not  hear  of  my  declining  to  partake  of  some  refresh- 
ment. The  woman  Bachmann  was  ordered  to  bring 
me  something;  a  good  cup  of  soup  and  a  little  cold 
meat.  While  taking  our  lunch  we  discussed  the  por- 
trait; Herr  Paulsen  was  not  in  favour  of  my  brown 
rep  from  an  artistic  point  of  view;  he  thought  some 
decided  colour  would  suit  me  better.  So  then  I  sug- 
gested my  claret-coloured  dress,  which  he  approved 
of.  I  was  to  give  him  my  first  sitting  the  following 
day,  and  in  order  that  my  Carl  might  not  notice  any- 
thing, he  proposed  that  I  should  send  my  dress  to  his 
house,  where  it  would  be  carefully  placed  in  the  old 
German  cabinet.  The  woman  Bachmann,  he  said, 
would  help  me  to  arrange  my  dress,  as  she  was  ac- 
customed to  do  this.  I  asked  if  Betti  might  come  with 
me,  for  it  occurred  to  me  that  my  daughter  might 
gain  something  by  watching  him  paint,  and  perhaps 
get  some  artistic  hints.  However,  he  said  he  would 
prefer  that  she  did  not  come  till  after  the  third  sitting, 
when  she  would  be  able  to  judge  of  the  likeness.  He 
would,  he  said,  be  very  glad  to  see  her  then. 

This  was  on  Tuesday;  on  Thursday  I  sat  for  the 
first  time.  I  must  say  a  very  peculiar  feeling  came 
over  me  as  I  looked  at  the  canvas  upon  which  my. 
S 


66  About  Hanging  Gardens, 

portrait  was  to  be  painted,  and  it  was  strange  to 
think  tiiat  it  could  be  done  without  a  copy.  In  fact  I 
was  to  be  the  copy  myself,  and  might  talk  and  amuse 
myself,  while  the  artist,  with  various  kinds  of  brushes 
laid  on  different  colours  exactly  where  they  were 
necessary  to  produce  the  likeness. 

I  asked  Professor  Paulsen  whether  he  had  always 
resided  in  his  present  house,  whereupon  he  told  me 
that  the  town  had  purchased  the  land  upon  which  his 
old  house  had  stood,  as  a  Market  Hall  was  to  be 
erected  in  that  quarter.  "My  old  studio,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  had  a  hanging  garden  with  a  view  across  a 
wood-yard  out  over  the  river.  Directly  adjoining  my 
garden  was  the  Logcngarten,  with  its  high  elms  and 
lime-trees,  like  a  small  forest.  In  the  spring-time  the 
blossoms  of  the  lime-trees  gave  a  delicious  scent,  a 
bullfinch  used  to  come  and  sip  water  from  the  saucers 
of  my  flower-pots,  pigeons  from  a  neighbouring  house 
came  for  bread-crumbs  that  Bachmann  strewed  for 
them;  even  the  yellow  loriot  built  its  nest  in  the  trees 
by  the  water,  scarcely  a  hundred  steps  from  the  Lin- 
den, and  nightingales  might  be  heard  of  an  evening.  I 
could  fancy  myself  quite  in  the  country,  everything 
was  so  peaceful  round  about.  The  wild  vine  twined 
its  way  up  to  the  roof,  and  fiowers  of  all  colours 
flourished  there.  I  liked  my  lictle  garden  to  be  full  of 
bright  flowers,  like  the  one  I  remembered  by  my 
parents'  house." — "  Nothing  grows  in  our  garden," 
said  I,  "  too  much  shade  spoils  everything  botanical. 
How  lovely  it  must  have  been  in  your  old  place,  espe- 
cially to  have  had  nightingales  in  the  middle  of  Ber- 
lin !  " — "  Unfortunately  this  never  lasted  very  long. 
When  the  little  bird  forgot  itself  and  the  world,  in  its 
song,  soiT^e  wretched  cat  would  creep  up  and  seize  it.' 
— "Could   not   the    cat    be  content  with  sparrows?' 


and  Market  People.  6y 

said  I. — "  No,  no,  Miss  Puss  has  rather  a  liking  for 
nightingales,  they  sit  conveniently  low  among  the 
shruhber3^  When  the  trees  were  cut  down  to  make 
room  for  building,  the  singing  birds  left." — "  That 
served  the  cats  right,"  I  exclaimed.  "  And  soon  after- 
wards everything  had  to  be  pulled  down — houses,  the 
studio  and  the  hanging  garden — and  there  was  an  end 
to  all  the  beauty.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Market 
will  prove  advantageous  to  Berlin,  from  a  practical  as 
well  as  from  an  architectural  point  of  view." 

"  I,  myself,  do  anticipate  some  good  results,"  I  re- 
plied, "  for  v.-hen  one  sees  these  market  people  late  of 
an  evening  lying  on  the  ground  beside  their  baskets, 
and  camping  out  all  night  in  the  open  air,  like  the 
lazzaroni — whatever  the  weather  may  be — all  sensible 
persons  must  feel  that  it  is  inhuman  for  any  one  to 
treat  their  health  in  such  a  way.  And  peasants  are 
human  beings,  surely  !  Moreover,  I  expect  that  the 
Market  will  lead  these  people  to  be  more  particular  in 
their  manner  of  behaviour  ;  at  present  they  are,  as  a 
rule,  very  backward  in  this  respect.  Fancy  what  hap- 
pened to  me  last  summer  when  most  people  were  off 
to  some  watering-place  or  other.  I  went  one  day  my- 
self to  buy  some  young  peas,  and  as  those  offered  me 
by  one  of  the  women  were  over-ripe,  I  hesitated,  and 
then  said  (only  what  was  true),  '  I  would  not  dare  to 
set  those  before  my  husband,  I'm  sorry,  good-day.' 
Not  a  syllable  did  she  give  me,  but  the  woman  in  the 
next  stall  calls  out  rudely:  'Never  you  mind,  Frau 
Meyer,  she  only  wants  to  do  the  fine  leddy.  A  fine 
leddy,  indeed  !  If  she  were  a  fine  leddy  she'd  be  any- 
where but  in  Berlin  at  this  time  of  the  year  ! '  Now 
surely  such  a  thing  is  not  likely  to  happen  in  tlie 
Market  Hall  without  the  police  interfering  and  giving 
the  women  a  benefiting  lock-up  in  gaol  !     Or  are  we 


68  The  Portrait  begun. 

to  be  forced  to  go  to  Nordeney  on  account  of  these 
market  women  ? " 

Professor  Paulsen  then  made  a  pause,  and  I  could 
rise  and  go  and  look  at  what  had  been  done.  Primaeval 
man  must  have  looked  something  like  this,  I  thought 
— recognisable  and  yet  not  perfect  inform.  The  body 
was  only  given  in  outline,  and  the  chair  upon  v/hich  I 
had  been  sitting  consisted  merely  of  one  daub  of 
colour,  whereas  the  place  where  my  hands  were 
eventually  to  be,  was  indicated  merely  by  a  smudge 
with  his  flesh-coloured  brush.  After  contemplating 
the  work  quietly  for  a  little,  I  said  :  "I  had  imagined 
that  painters  began  at  the  top,  with  the  hair,  and  then 
worked  downwards  bit  by  bit." — "  It's  very  likely  that 
some  may  do  this,"  replied  Professor  Paulsen  ;  "  I,  for 
,my  part,  prefer  to  give  as  definite  a  sketch  as  possible 
of  the  total  impression  first,  and  then  to  work  out  the 
details  in  so  far  as  I  consider  them  artistically  correct 
and  effective  in  each  case." — "I'm  very  curious  what 
it  will  look  like  when  finished,"  I  said,  and  then 
added  :  "  Is  that  black  under  the  eyes  to  remain,  and 
am  I  really  as  yellow  about  the  neck  ?  " 

Professor  Paulsen  seemed  not  to  have  heard  these 
last  questions,  but  touched  an  electric  bell,  whereupon 
Bachmann  appeared.  "  May  I  offer  you  a  little  re- 
freshment ?  "  he  said,  addressing  me.  "If  you  could 
give  me  another  hour  to-day  I  should  accomplish  more 
than  at  another  sitting  of  double  the  length  of  time  ; 
yet  I  should  be  sorry  to  tire  you  ?  " — "  Have  I  been 
sitting  for  an  hour  already  ?  "  I  asked  in  astonishment, 
for  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  come  only  a  short  time 
ago.  In  interesting  society,  however,  the  hours  seem 
to  fly. — "  You've  been  here  over  two  hours,"  said  the 
woman  Bachmann. — "  You  needn't  speak  unless  you're 
asked,"   said   Professor  Paulsen   severel}^  "  it  doesn't 


About  Rhenish.    Wiiic.  69 

matter  to  you  how  long  I  make  my  hours.  Bring 
in  a  bottle  of  '  Johannisgartcn,'  also  some  cake  and 
fruit,  or  whatever  else  you  may  have  in  that  way." 
The  old  woman  went  off  with  a  displeased  look,  but 
soon  returned  with  a  more  conciliatory  expression  of 
face,  and  placed  the  things  her  master  had  ordered 
upon  the  table.  Then  she  gave  a  look  at  the  portrait 
and  said  quietly  :  "  It's  going  to  do,"  and  went  off.  I 
felt  annoyed  at  this. 

The  little  refreshment  did  me  good,  and  the  wine 
was  excellent  ;  I  could  not  remember  to  have  ever 
tasted  anything  like  it,  and  therefore  asked  where  it 
came  from.  It  struck  me  that  if  the  price  were  not  too 
exorbitant,  I  might  tell  Carl  to  get  some  for  his  birth- 
day. "  This  Johannisgarten  I  get  direct  from  a  friend 
of  mine.  Otto  Sartorius,  the  proprietor  of  a  vineyard 
in  Mussbach  in  the  Rhenish  Pfalz,"  he  replied. — 
"  Does  your  friend  supply  other  people  as  well  ?  " — 
"  Send  him  an  order  and  see  ;  you  will  be  satisfied 
with  what  he  sends  you,  I  am  sure.  Since  the  French 
have  taken  to  manufacture  their  clarets  out  of  Italian 
wines,  I  prefer  the  genuine  German  growths,  especially 
as  the  price  is  pretty  much  the  same  as  that  demanded 
for  the  French  fabrications." — "  I  can  quite  under- 
stand that,"  I  replied  ;  '*  really  one  may  learn  some- 
thing new  every  day  of  one's  life,"  and  with  this  I 
jotted  down  the  address. 

After  resting  a  little  the  painting  began  again,  and 
when  Professor  Paulsen  had  finished  for  the  day,  the 
picture  had  assumed  a  very  different  appearance.  The 
woman  Bachmann  was  right  after  all  :  it  was  going 
to  do. 

She  helped  me  to  change  my  dress  in  the  adjoining 
room  ;  and  when  I  took  my  leave,  Professor  Paulsen 
told  me  I   might  bring  Betti   next  time,  for,  as  I  had 


70  Delicate   Threads  of  Affection. 

sat  so  extremely  well,  he  would  require  one  sitting 
the  less. 

Agreeable  as  this  praise  was,  I  could  not  conceal 
from  myself  the  fact  that  I  should  be  too  late  for 
dinner,  a  thing  that  otherwise  never  occurred.  So  I 
had  to  think  of  excuses  to  give  Carl  ;  but  he  always 
notices  directly  when  things  are  not  straightforward, 
so  that  I  am  not  at  all  a  good  one  at  inventing  stories. 
Of  course  I  got  quickly  enough  back  to  our  part  of 
the  world  by  the  city  line,  still  the  time  at  the  other 
end  had  been  too  short  for  me  to  concoct  a  proper 
excuse  out  of  my  own  head. 

At  home  I  found  them  waiting  for  me.  Carl,  how- 
ever, when  he  saw  my  embarrassment,  welcomed  me 
with  the  words  :  "  Was  the  bridge  drawn  up  that  you 
couldn't  pass  ?  or  did  you  get  into  a  wrong  tramcar?" 
— "No,"  I  answered  hotly,  "you  needn't  imagine  me 
so  stupid  as  that.  I  have  been  trying  to  find  out  where 
we  can  get  a  good  and  proper  sort  of  wine." — Carl 
looked  at  Betti,  and  Betti  looked  at  him,  and  both 
burst  out  laughing,  which  made  me  feel  very  uncom- 
fortable. "  What  are  you  giggling  at  ? "  I  asked,  a 
little  put  out. — "  So  she's  been  wine-tasting  !  "  said 
Carl  gaily. — "  Yes,  that  she  has  !  "  I  exclaimed,  an- 
gered by  the  ridicule,  and  threw  the  address  of  the 
wine  merchant  upon  the  table.  "Here's  the  address 
if  you  want  to  have  it,  and  you  may  order  the  wine 
for  your  birthday  yourself,  it  will  give  me  no  pleasure 
now  to  do  it  after  the  way  you  have  met  me." — "  Wil- 

helmine,  if  I  had  only  known "  Carl  began  by  way 

of  excusing  himself. — "  It's  the  nature  of  you  men  ;  you 
are  for  ever,  with  your  rough  hands,  destroying  the 
delicate  threads  of  affection  that  women  weave  for  you. 
But  I'll  forgive  and  forget,  if  only  you  send  off  the  order 
to-day.     You  may  as  well  order  wine  for  punch  at  the 


Carl  Dines  Hurriedly.  7 1 

same  time.  Come,  don't  crumple  the  address  in  that 
way  I     And  now  let  us  have  dinner." 

We  were  pretty  silent  during  dinner.  I  was  sorry 
to  have  drawn  such  a  thunderstorm  down  upon  Carl, 
but  if  I  hadn't,  he  would  assuredly  have  got  to  the 
bottom  of  the  secret  about  the  portrait,  and,  moreover, 
I  should  have  had  double  trouble  in  getting  him  to 
order  the  wine.  If  Professor  Paulsen  pays  us  a  visit, 
we  can't  offer  him  anything  less  good  than  what  he  is 
accustomed  to. 

Carl  took  his  dinner  hurriedly,  and  said_ "  Gesegnete 
Mahlzeii"  before  we  others  had  had  our  second  help- 
ing. I  was  about  to  run  out  after  him,  to  tell  him  that 
things  were  not  as  bad  as  they  seemed,  when  Betti 
began:  "Why  were  you  so  angry,  mamma?" — "I 
angry?" — "Well,  you  seemed  so,  at  least." — "  And  I 
had  good  reason  to  be  annoyed." — "  No,  mamma,  you 
hadn't." — "Indeed!" — "What  I  mean,  is,  that  when 
you  were  so  long  in  coming  home,  papa  got  anxious, 
and  kept  on  saying:  'Where  can  mamma  be?'  I  tried 
to  make  excuses,  but  you  know  that  when  papa  is 
serious  and  asks  a  question  point-blank,  one  has  to 
tell  him  the  truth."— "  Well  ?"—"  So  I  told  him  that 
he  must  remember  that  his  birthday  was  in  a  day  or 
two." — "  Betti,  how  could  you  go  and  tell  tales  ?  " — 
"  I  knew  that  papa  would  be  content  with  that,  and  it 
was  the  truth  also.  If  you  had  met  his  jokes  in  a 
cheery  way,  all  would  have  been  well.  Really,  this 
time  I  do  not  know  who  acted  most  stupidly." — 
"  Betti  !  is  that  the  way  to  speak  to  me  ?  " — "  I  did  not 
mean  to  be  rude,  mamma,  but  I  am  old  enough  now 
to  see  that  you  would  have  gained  more  by  giving  in," 
— "  It's  a  new  thing  to  hear  such  remarks  from  you, 
Betti,"  said  I. — She  got  up,  and  said  in  a  low  voice  : 
"  I  once  thought  there  was  some  happiness  for  me  in 


72  A /I  after-dinner  Nap. 

life — we  never  spoke  about  it,  mamma — but  it  has  all 
passed  away  now;  we  have  both  of  us  been  silent 
about  it,  you  and  I;  what  was  the  use  of  words  ?  You 
know  it  as  well  as  I.  The  love  1  thought  of  giving  to 
that  one  person,  I  mean  now  to  divide  between  you 
all,  as  well  as  I  can.  Now  you  know  why  I  have  come 
to  look  at  things  differently  from  what  I  did.  Forgive 
me,  mamma,  if  I  hurt  you  by  what  I  said.  I  did  not 
intend  to." 

She  went  away  and  I  was  left  alone  with  a  heavy 
heart.  Betti  had  resigned  herself  to  her  fate  ;  the 
spring  of  her  life  was  past  !  It  was  well  that  no  one 
saw  how  I  cried.  When  I  recovered  I  determined  that 
henceforth  her  life  should  be  made  as  pleasant  as  it 
was  in  my  power  to  make  it.  Not  an  unkind  word 
should  ever  cross  my  lips;  and  if  any  one  should 
worry  her  again,  they'd  suffer  for  it  ! 

Carl  had  gone  to  lie  down,  as  was  his  usual  way 
after  dinner;  we  had  knitted  him  a  large  sofa  blanket 
for  these  after-dinner  naps.  I  went  in  to  him.  When 
I  opened  the  door  he  raised  his  eyes.  "  Carl,"  said  I, 
"if  you  don't  care  about  ordering  that  wine,  leave  it." 
— "What  is  it,  Wilhelmine  ? "  said  he,  without  much 
interest. — "You  hadn't  any  appetite  to-day,  Carl 
dear?"— "No,  I  hadn't."— "  Was  it  my  fault?"— "I 
didn't  say  it  was."—"  Carl,  I  was  a  little  excited." — 
"  It  seemed  to  me  you  were.  I  would  advise  you,  in 
future,  not  to  go  in  for  wine-tasting,  you  cannot  stand 
a  mixture  of  things." — "  Now,  Carl,  that's  a  return 
shot  at  me.  Are  you  angry,  Carl?" — "No,  I'm  not; 
for  you  can't  alter  your  natural  disposition.  Why 
should  I  be  angry?" — "Carl,"  said  I,  "you've  been  a 
very  jewel  all  your  born  days.  I  confess  I  was  more 
violent  than  need  be;  but  still,  have  I  ever  wished  my 
children    a  better   father  than    you?     The  hour  will 


The  Essence  of  Art.  73 

come  when  I  shall  stand  justified  before  you;  it  is  not 
very  far  off,  believe  me.  Now  this  evening  you  shall 
have  the  best  of  beefsteaks  for  supper,  as  you  ate  no 
dinner.  Will  you  have  it  cooked  with  onions  or  with 
&ZZ^  Carl  dear?"— ''With  both  !"—"  And  I'll  have  a 
glass  of  genuine  Munich  beer  fetched  for  you;  nobody 
shall  say  I  haven't  a  warm  heart  for  you.  Now  shut 
your  eyes  for  a  little  more  sleep;  when  it's  time  for 
you  to  be  off  to  the  office,  I'll  come  and  wake  you." — 
Before  I  went  I  gave  him  a  kiss,  which  pleased  him 
very  much.  The  angel  of  reconciliation  had  descend- 
ed upon  us  and  held  watch  by  his  couch.  He  was 
well  tucked  up,  too. 

The  portrait  formed  the  main  object  of  my  exist- 
ence; I  was  determined  that  it  should  become  incom- 
parably good  even  though  I  had  to  sit  for  three  weeks 
like  a  brooding  hen.  It  did  not  take  as  long  as  this, 
however,  for  it  was  surprising  how  the  painting  de- 
veloped; and  Betti,  who  accompanied  me  each  time, 
was  greatly  astonished,  and  finally  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  she  would  never  attain  such  facility. 
"The  mixing  of  the  colours  is  too  difffcult,"  she  said  : 
"  a  little  of  every  colour  is  laid  on  the  palette,  and 
those  have  all  again  to  be  mixed  together,  yet  when 
the  artist  puts  it  on  the  canvas  with  his  brush,  it  agrees 
to  a  nicety  with  your  likeness.  The  essence  of  art 
lies  in  the  artist's  insight  into  nature." — "  I  am  afraid 
you  .are  wrong  there,  Betti,"  I  replied,  "  other  people 
might  have  an  insight  into  that.  No,  in  my  opinion 
the  essence  of  art  consists  in  an  artist  always  dipping 
into  the  right  colours  !  " 

Nothing,  therefore,  came  of  my  idea  that  Betti 
might  pick  up  some  hints  from  watching  the  artist  at 
work  ;  on  the  contrary,  after  this  she  gave  up  her 
wood-painting   entirely,  declaring   that  it  was  mere 


74  Upward  Strivings  of  Genius. 

dabbling  in  art,  and  that  she  had  been  meanwhile  al- 
together neglecting  her  literary  studies.  And,  indeed, 
according  to  the  certificates  tliat  she  received  at  the 
High  School,  she  possessed  talent  i  b  and  industry  2  a. 
Having  these  guarantees  of  her  ability,  I  determined 
to  persuade  Herr  Feodor  Wichmann  Leuenfels  (who 
had  in  due  course  called  upon  us)  to  come  more  fre- 
quently to  our  house,  although  Betti  herself  does  not 
seem  to  be  very  much  edified  with  him,  and  Uncle 
Fritz,  in  his  plebeian  way  of  speaking,  always  calls 
him  the  patent  humbug.  Now  as  Carl,  too,  is  not  in- 
clined to  believe  in  professional  poets,  I  stand  alone 
in  my  sympathy  for  the  upward  strivings  of  this  young 
man  of  genius.  And  yet  Leuenfels  is  a  remarkable 
man — one  need  only  see  with  what  confidence  he  aims 
his  shafts  at  other  writers  of  verse:  I  consider  myself 
too  good,  he  would  say,  to  subscribe  my  name  to  such 
trash. 

Meanwhile  the  sittings  were  coming  to  an  end  ;  it 
was  astonishing  to  see  how  the  picture  became  more 
and  more  life-like,  until  finally  it  was  exactly  like  the 
reality.  The  black  below  the  eyes,  and  the  yellow 
about  the  neck  had  vanished,  and  now  formed  a  most 
natural  kind  of  shade;  the  patch  of  colour  that  had 
originally  stood  for  the  chair,  assumed  the  appearance 
of  the  embroidery  exactly;  and  the  hands,  which  had 
given  some  trouble,  were  precisely  like  my  own. — ^I 
was  quite  overcome  when  contemplating  the  finished 
picture  in  its  frame  of  carved  gold,  and  thinking  what 
Carl  would  feel  on  his  birthday.  "  Art  is  a  grand 
thing,  after  all,"  I  said,  "but.  Professor  Paulsen,  I  am 
a  little  too  good-looking  in  the  picture,  I  think." — 
"  You  are  wrong,"  he  replied,  "  the  portrait-painter 
has  not  merely  to  copy  nature,  but  has  to  a  certain 
extent  to  endeavour  to  obtain  a   likeness   from   the 


The  Portrait  Finished.  75 

pleasantest  point  of  view.  The  expression  varies  with 
the  humour  a  person  happens  to  be  in,  and  I  have 
painted  you,  as  3'ou  look  when  cheerful,  when  some 
good  fortune  of  your  own,  or  that  of  some  one  else  has 
brightened  the  expression  of  your  face." — "  But  have 
I  not  turned  out  a  little  too  young-looking?" — 
"Mamma,  how  can  3'^ou  say  such  a  thing?"  Betti 
interposed.  "  In  the  picture  you  are  exactly  like  what 
we  have  always  known  you,  ever  since  we  can  remem- 
ber, our  dear,  kind  mother.  You  never  looked  any 
different  from  what  you  do  in  the  picture." — "  If  you 
are  satisfied,  I  do  not  need  to  object,  for  I'm  not  un- 
human.  I  did  not  have  my  portrait  taken  from  van- 
ity's sake.  Professor  Paulsen,  but  because  my  children 
insisted  upon  it." — "Then  you  have  very  sensible  chil- 
dren," said  he. 

The  sittings  had  been  a  real  pleasure  to  us,  so  we 
were  sorry  when  they  came  to  an  end.  Betti  had 
watched  the  Professor  painting,  or  played  on  the  piano 
anything  she  happened  to  know  by  heart.  Sometimes 
also  she  amused  herself  with  the  dog  Peter,  a  shaggy 
kind  of  creature  like  a  poodle,  that  would  dance  round 
and  round,  looking,  for  all  things  in  the  world,  like  a 
furry  foot-sack  gone  mad;  one  could  never  make  out 
which  was  the  head  and  which  the  tail.  The  woman 
Bachmann,  who  was  full  of  praise  about  the  picture, 
told  me  that  in  the  old  studio  they  had  a  dog  called 
Paul,  and  that  it  might  have  been  a  human  being 
v.-ere  it  not  that  it  had  a  dog's  skin,  and  that  at  times 
it  was  cleverer  than  many  a  human  creature,  but  that 
a  malicious  old  witch  had  given  it  poison  because  the 
dog  always  barked  at  her.  Bachmann  said  she  noticed 
the  dog  was  ill  at  five  in  the  evening,  and  at  twelve  at 
night  it  looked  up  at  her  again,  and  wagged  its  tail 
as  if  it  had  wanted  to  say,  "  Bachmann,  it's  all  ovei 


'j6  A  Surprise  for  Carl, 

v/ith  me;  give  a  kind  message  to  master  from  me" — 
that  was  the  end.  Her  master  was  much  grieved 
when  she  went  in  and  told  him.  But  the  old  wretch 
of  a  woman  did  not  escape  punishment;  she  ended  in 
getting  a  couple  of  months'  imprisonment  for  slander- 
ous talk  and  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  house. 
"  Thank  God,"  said  I,  "  there  is  justice  still  to  be  had  ! 
Thanks,  I'll  send  for  the  dress."  Bachmann  had  given 
herself  some  trouble  in  helping  me  to  change  my 
dress  on  the  different  occasions,  and  had  shown 
herself  so  obliging  that  I  made  her  some  little  return. 
The  picture  was  to  remam  in  the  studio  till  the  birth- 
day. 

A  slight  degree  of  stage-fever  seized  me,  however, 
when  the  day  came  upon  which  Carl  was  to  be  sur- 
prised. On  the  previous  afternoon  Professor  Paulsen 
came  himself,  when  the  picture  was  to  be  hung  up  in 
our  best  sitting-room  ;  he  wished  to  see  it  placed  in  a 
proper  light,  so  that  even  in  this  respect  nothing  was 
omitted.  Afterwards  I  locked  the  door  and  took  away 
the  key.  Betti  was  all  expectation,  and  kept  singing 
to  herself,  a  thing  I  had  not  heard  her 'do  for  long. 

In  the  morning  we  had  our  coffee  v/ith  a  cake,  as  upon 
any  other  birthday,  and  we  gave  Carl  several  useful 
things,  which  pleased  him  very  much.  Then  I  went 
and  unlocked  the  room  and  called  through  the  door, 
"Carl,  there's  someone  in  the  best  room  wanting  to  see 
you." — He  seemed  a  little  vexed  at  being  disturbed, 
but  hurried  out  and  we  followed  him  on  tiptoe 
quietly.  There  he  stood  as  if  lost  in  contemplation 
of  the  picture,  but  Betti's  shoes  creaked  and  he  turned 
round  and  saw  us.  "  Wilhelmine,"  he  said,  with  emo- 
tion, "  my  good  wife,  you  could  not  have  given  me  a 
greater  pleasure  than  this."  He  drew  me  to  him  and 
kissed  me  on  the  forehead  and  mouth.     Betti  clapped 


and  old  Recollections  Azvakencd. 


her  hands  in  delight.  "Was  I  not  right,  mamma?  If 
only  parents  would  always  follow  their  children's 
advice  !  " — Carl  turned  to  her  and  smiled,  and  then 
put  his  other  arm  round  her.  This  was  a  birthday 
such  as  we  had  never  had,  we  were  so  utterly,  so  heartily 
happy  and  content. 

"  Do  you  like  the  portrait,  Carl  ?  "  said  I,  for  of 
course  one  likes  to  have  an  opinion.  "Do  you  think 
the  likeness  good  ?  " — "  It  is  you  to  a  nicety/'  was  his 
answer,  "and  yet  there  is  something  more  in  it  than 
that  ;  it  seems  to  me  as  if  I  had  you  there  again  as 
)'ou  were  when  my  bride,  as  you  looked  in  the  days 
of  our  first  love,  do  you  remember?" — "You  mean 
I  look  too  youthful  there,  Carl  ?  "  —  "  No,  not  at 
all,  but  it  awakens  my  old  recollection,  and  now  when 
I  look  at  you  yourself,  I  see  exactly  the  same  ex- 
pression still  in  your  features.  The  artist  has  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  it  out  more  distinctly  than  we  are 
accustomed  to  see  it." — "  So  now  you  are  no  longer 
vexed  about  my  having  been  late  for  dinner  that  day  ? 

I  had  just    returned   from    my  first  sitting "     He 

laid  his  hand  gently  on  my  mouth.  "The  storm 
passed  by  very  quickly,  and  it  has  never  really  come 
down  upon  us,  although,  at  times,  there  has  seemed  a 
good  deal  of  thunder  in  the  air." — "Carl,  remember  I 

have  often  had  the  big  washing  in  my  head,  and ■" 

— "  Wilhelmine,  is  the  picture  to  have  its  laugh  at 
3''ou  ?  Look  how  kindly  and  pleasantly  the  painted 
Frau  Buchholz  can  look  down  at  me." — I  laughed  and 
said  :  "Well,  I  have  hung  up  a  nice  warning  to  mv- 
self." — The  door-bell  then  rang.  "  Children,"  I  ex- 
claimed, "there  are  visitors  coming— probably  Emmi 
and  Dr.  Wrenzchen  !  " 

And  so  it  was.  My  son-in-law  wanted  to  offer  his 
good  wishes  before  going  off  on  his  rounds,  and  left 


78  A   Ghostly  Lady. 


Emmi  with  us  for  the  whole  day.  The  portrait  pleased 
them  immensely.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  asked  me  in  private 
what  it  cost  ;  I  pacified  him  by  saying  that  it  might 
one  day  be  his.  In  the  evening  we  had  a  pretty  large 
gathering  of  friends,  and  Carl— that  best  of  men  ! — 
had  actually  arranged  for  us  to  have  "  Johannisgarten ;" 
this  came  as  a  surprise  for  me,  and  so  the  merriment 
lasted  far  into  the  night. 

Before  getting  into  bed  I  went  to  take  a  last  look  at 
my  portrait,  and  said  :  "  I  will  do  my  utmost — this  I 
vow  ;  but  to  be  superhuman  is  a  thing  that  can't  be 
expected  of  me,  not  by  any  portrait  in  the  world." 
Carl,  who  came  to  see  what  was  keeping  me,  said  : 
"  Why,  Wilhelmine,  this  is  ghostly  in  the  extreme  ;  you 
look  as  if  you  were  playing  the  part  of  the  White  Lady, 
in  the  picture  gallery  among  the  portraits  of  her  an- 
cestors !  "  However,  I  could  not  reveal  my  deeper 
feelings  to  him  at  the  moment — he  was  in  too  jocose 


a  mood. 


NEW  CONNECTIONS. 

They  are  going  to  live  in  the  Privy  Councillor's  part 
of  the  town,  with  a  flower  garden  in  front,  and  a 
green-house,  stables  and  coach-house  at  the  back,  and 
the  gardener  is  to  wait  at  table,  and  to  have  six  pairs  of 
white  cotton  gloves  in  addition  to  his  wages.  He  is, 
however,  to  pay  for  the  washing  of  them  himself,  as 
he  is  not  likely  to  be  so  extravagant  with  them.  The 
furniture  they  have  purchased  belonged  to  some 
baron  who  disappeared  ;  it  is  meanwhile  all  in  the 
loft.  The  marriage  is  to  take  place  as  soon  as  the 
workmen  are  out  of  the   house,  and  when  the  young 


About  Health.  79 


couple  return  from  their  wedding  trip — they  are  either 
going  to  Paris  or  to  Vienna — they  are  to  take  up  their 
abode  in  their  grand  residence.  All  their  china  is  of 
the  onion  pattern,  and  the  kitchen  sink  in  white  marble 
with  gilt.     No  prince  could  wish  for  anything  finer. 

All  this  was  told  me  by  Augusta  Weigelt,  who  came 
to  call  ;  I  had  not  seen  her  for  some  time.  But,  of 
course,  she  cannot  well  leave  home  now  that  she  has 
another  little  baby.  The  boy  is  getting  a  splendid 
little  fellow  ;  and  the  second  child,  a  girl,  is  such  a 
nice-looking  little  thing  !  It  has  got  well-  over  its 
vaccination  troubles,  though  I  should  never  have  ad- 
vised its  being  vaccinated  at  so  young  an  age.  Au- 
gusta, however,  thought  that  what  had  to  be  done  was 
best  done  soon,  so  that  she  might  have  the  necessary 
certificates. 

"  You  are,  no  doubt,  already  thinking  about  your 
daughter's  future  marriage,"  said  I  jocosely. — "  Not 
exactly  that,"  she  replied,  "  but  when  the  little  thing 
is  lying  in  her  cradle  dreaming,  and  I  am  sitting 
by  her  with  my  sewing,  I  do  sometimes  begin  to 
speculate.  Time  passes  quicker  than  one  fancies,  and 
I  mean  her  to  have  the  best  education  possible.  One 
can  never  know  in  what  sphere  she  may  eventually 
come  to  live.  My  brother's  marriage  will  change  a 
good  many  things  in  our  family." 

"  His  bride  must  be  enormously  rich,"  said  I,  "  if,  as 
you  say,  they  are  to  have  a  whole  house  to  themselves 
in  the  Thiergarten  quarter,  and  to  keep  a  carriage  ; 
this  represents  a  lot  of  money.  Your  brother  Emil 
may  well  talk  of  good  luck." — "  Undoubtedly  !  and 
is  sure  to  be  very  happy  ;  he  will,  so  to  say,  find  him- 
self in  a  nest  of  gold.  When  one  considers  that  he 
has  absolutely  nothing  but  himself,  and  that  she, 
with  her  countless  wealth,   is  marrying   him  out    of 


8o       Brains  of  more  accoirit  than  Gojd  Looks. 

pure  affection  .  .  .  ." — ''  Where  was  it  that  they  be- 
came acquainted?"  I  asked,  interposing. — "First  of 
all  at  a  lawyer's  ball  which  Emil  was  invited  to  by  a 
friend  of  his,  with  sisters,  for  he  is  an  excellent  dancer. 
And  she  has  rather  a  liking  for  the  legal  set.  Emil, 
she  says,  must  take  his  doctor's  degree,  and,  if  it  does 
not  cost  too  much,  must  eventually  become  a  professor 
or  something  tip-top.  She  is  quite  bent  upon  this, 
Emil  says." — "  But  he  is  no  scholar  !  "  I  exclaimed, 
"  she  has  made  a  mistake  there." — "  Well,  at  all  events, 
Emil  is  a  most  good-looking  fellow,  you  must  admit 
that." — "  Remarkably  good-looking,  no  doubt,"  I  re- 
plied ;  "but  as  far  as  I  know,  good  looks  are  rather 
at  a  low  demand  with  professors  :  it's  more  the  brain 
that  tells  with  them,  as  is  proved  w4th  scientific 
accuracy  after  their  death.  However,  I  shall  be  well 
enough  pleased  if  she  succeeds  in  being  one  day  able 
to  style  herself  Frau  Professorin,  and  can  only  hope 
that  Emil  is  not  marrying  a  mere  money-bag,  and  is 
more  on  the  look-out  for  a  good  heart,  and  a  soul 
without  wrinkles.  Are  you  sure  he  is  quite  happy — 
I  mean  content  and  happy  at  heart?" 

"  I  do  think  he  is,"  replied  Augusta,  "  and  why 
should  he  not  be?  He  is  getting  everything  he  can 
possibly  wish,  and  he  will  be  able  to  assist  his  parents 
and  the  rest  of  us  also.  He  knows  well  how  difficult 
it  is  for  us  to  make  both  ends  meet." — "  Now  that  I 
like  in  him,"  said  I,  "  and  if  he  manages  to  get  the 
purse  strings  into  his  own  hands,  he  will,  no  doubt,  do 
what  he  can  for  you  all."= — "  Of  course  he  will  I  " 
exclaimed  Augusta  cheerfully  ;  "  mother  thinks  so 
too  !  And  father  will  then  no  longer  need  to  slave 
away  at  all  sorts  of  extra  w^ork,  and  our  troubles  will 
come  to  an  end." — "  That  is  not  bad  at  seventy,"  I 
added,  "if  things  were  but  all  finally  settled." 


TJic  Prospective   Wedding. 


"It  won't  be  very  long  now  before  they  are,"  re- 
plied Augusta,  "and  I  myself  wish  that  the  wedding- 
day  were  over  ...  it  comes  rather  hard  upon  us."— 
"In  spite  of  all  the  brilliant  prospects  ?  " — "It's  just 
the  brilliancy  of  it  that  causes  the  trouble,"  replied 
Augusta,  "  for,  of  course,  we  cannot  appear  as  dowdies 
beside  all  the  grand  folk  that  will  be  invited  to  the 
wedding— that  would  never  do.  My  husband  cannot 
go  in  his  old  dress-coat,  and  my  best  dress  is  com- 
pletely out  of  fashion.  Moreover,  if  we  give  them  a 
present,  it  must  be  either  a  pair  of  sugar-tongs,  or 
salt-cellars,  or  something  of  silver  from  a  goldsmith. 
Mother  did  suggest  a  dinner  service,  it  is  true,  which 
would  make  a  goodly  show  ;  but  we  cannot  manage 
that,  it  comes  too  expensive." — "Do  not  take  it  ill, 
Augusta,"  said  I,  "but  that  mother  of  yours  is  the 
very  essence  of  senselessness.  Where  can  she  expect 
you  to  get  the  money  from  ? " 

These  words  of  mine,  which  were  nothing  but  the 
positive  truth,  put  Augusta  out  rather,  and  she  said, 
stuttering  :  "  We  have  calculated  the  matter  out 
most  carefully,  and  only  considered  what  will  be 
absolutely  necessary.  A  hundred  thalers  would  cover 
all  the  expenses." — "  I  call  that  quite  unjustifiable  in 
your  position,"  said  I  ;  "think  of  the  future,  Augusta." 
— "We  have  done  so,"  she  added  gaily  ;  "if  we  do  not 
attend  the  wedding,  this  would  at  once  put  an  end  to 
any  intercourse  between  us  and  our  grand  connec- 
tions. And  then  where  else — except  among  such 
people — are  we  likely  to  get  to  know  persons  who 
may  one  day  be  of  use  to  our  boy,  when  he  'will 
require  good  introductions  to  help  him  on  in  life?  Is 
it  a  wise  thing  to  appear  indifferent  to  connections  in 
a  high  position,  who,  as  Emil  says,  could  invite 
princes  and  other  celebrities  to  their  soirees?" 
6 


82  About  Iligh-floivn  Notions, 

"Augusta,"  said  I  seriously,  "do  you  think  you 
have  the  proper  polish  for  such  feudal  entertainments  ? 
Do  you  not  yourselves  belong  to  the  Lansberger 
Strasse  ?  But  this  much  I  see  ...  a  Bergfeldt  will 
remain  a  Bergfeldt  all  its  born  days." 

"  I  know  that  you  have  a  pique  against  my  mother, 
but  you  have  never  yet  shown  me  anv  of  the  ill-feeling 

you    have    towards   her "—"The  ill-feeling  is  all 

on  her  side,"  said  I,  interrupting  her.  "  for  whenever 
there  was  a  quarrel  it  v,'as  she  who  began  it.  But  do 
not  let  us  rake  up  that  subject,  do  not  let  us  upset 
ourselves  with  things  of  the  past  ;  let  us,  at  least,  keep 
calm  and  composed So  you  really  think  you  can- 
not manage  to  get  out  of  the  wedding  ? " 

"We  must  positively  be  there.  What  excuse  could 
we  give  to  our  acquaintances  were  they  to  ask  why  we 
had  not  attended  the  wedding?  Dear,  good  Frau 
Buchholz,  we  cannot  possibly  do  otherwise  ;  and  now 
I  am  going  to  ask  a  very  great  favour  of  you — but 
you  must  not  misunderstand  me — and  you  will  not  be 
angry,  will  you  ? — could  you  lend  us  the  hundred 
thalers  ?  " 

If  any  one  had  told  me  that  she  wanted  me  to  fetch 
her  down  the  clock  from  the  Town  Hall,  I  could  not 
have  felt  more  dumfounded  than  at  this  attack  of 
hers.  "  Augusta,"  I  replied  after  a  somewhat  longish 
pause  for  reflection,  "  it  is  certainly  true  that  a  drown- 
ing man  will  clutch  at  the  first  straw  within  reach,  but 
why  need  I  be  that  very  straw  ?  If  you  were  really  in 
distress,  you  or  your  husband,  you  might  assuredly 
count  upon  me,  but  I  have  no  sympathy  with  your 
high-flown  notions.  In  any  case,  I  should  have  to 
talk  the  matter  over  with  my  husband.  But  consider, 
a'hundred  thalers  are  just  three  hundred  marks — and 
that  is  no  small  item  in  these  bad  times.     One  hears 


and  Wedding  Presents.  83 

on  all  hands  of  troubles  in  business  life,  and  of  the 
social  abyss  that  has  slowly  been  opening  for  years." 
— "  It  is  only  a  loan  I'm  asking  for,"  said  Augusta  in 
a  low  tone  of  voice.  "We'll  manage  to  get  the  money 
elsewhere,  and  Emil  will  give  us  back  all  we  have  to 
lay  out  ;  this  we  hope  for  certain." — "  Augusta,"  said 
I  in  a  warning  tone,  "hope  is  of  no  value  whatever  at 
the  Imperial  Bank.  I  think  that  you  should  have  a 
fashionable  back  put  on  to  the  skirt  of  your  black  silk 
dress  ;  two  widths  of  material  would  be  sufficient 
with  enough  over  to  alter  the  sleeves.  Your  husband 
could  get  the  loan  of  an  elegant  dress-coat  from  his 
tailor  for  a  couple  of  shillings,  and  instead  of  thinking 
of  silver  plate,  choose  a  pretty  flower-pot,  and  present 
it  to  them  in  a  somewhat  dignified  way.  That  would 
do  quite  as  well." 

Augusta  shook  her  head.  "  His  bride  doesn't  care 
about  flowers,"  she  said,  "  and  greatly  prefers  what  is 
valuable  and  expensive  ;  and  it  is  of  no  use  your  try- 
ing to  persuade  me  that  my  dress  could  look  anything 
but  as  ancient  as  the  one  my  grandmother  wore  when 
she  was  confirmed." — "Do  not  talk  so  irreverently, 
Augusta,"  said  I;  "I  remember  your  grandmother 
quite  well — she  was  one  of  the  Neumanns  in  the 
Linien  Strasse,  and  I  do  not  think  it  v/ell-mannered 
of  you  to  use  the  good  old  lady  as  your  last  trump 
card,  in  order  to  have  your  own  way.  I  can  tell  you 
this  :  money  is  easily  spent,  but  not  so  easily  made." 

"  I  am  sorry  if  I  have  applied  to  you  at  an  incon- 
venient moment,"  said  Augusta  a  little  huffishly,  and, 
rising  from  her  chair,  she  added  :  "  it's  high  time  I 
were  at  home  again  to  see  the  children."  Whereupon, 
I  said,  "  Sleep  well  over  it  again  is  my  advice  to  you  ; 
I'm  sure  you  could  manage  more  economically." — • 
"  No,"  she  replied,  "  I'm   sure  we  couldn't,   for  I  did 


84  Darwin  proved  Wrong. 

not  even  include  twelve-buttoned  gloves  in  my  calcu- 
lation. If  I  did  as  you  want,  I  suppose  I  might 
present  myself  in  cotton  gloves.  In  grand  houses, 
however,  it's  only  the  servants  that  do  that !  "  I  did 
not  repeat  her  own  words  about  considerate  conduct, 
although  I  confess  I  felt  myself  boiling  up.  I  mere- 
ly said :  "  I  mean  it  all  more  for  your  own  good 
than  you  seem  to  imagine  ;  you  can  sew  three  but- 
tons to  the  end  of  every  finger  of  your  gloves,  for  all 
I  care  ;  that,  at  all  events,  would  create  sensation 
enough  !  " 

She  replied  that  I  was  perfectly  at  liberty  to  act  thus, 
if  ever  I  got  into  the  dilemma  of  being  drav\rn  up  into 
tip-top  society.  "  Gusta,"  I  called  out  after  her,  ''you 
don't  mean  to  say  you  are  crying  about  a  couple  of 
plums.  Don't  make  yourself  ridiculous  !  "  But  she 
had  already  gone,  and  did  not  hear  me. 

How  right  Carl  is,  after  all  ! — for  he  has  of  ten  said  : 
"  Money  matters  put  an  end  to  all  sentimentality." 
As  a  rule,  when  Augusta  came  to  see  me,  we  were  as 
one  heart  and  one  soul,  for  I  have  a  very  good  opinion 
of  her.  Darwin  has  proved  wrong  in  her  case,  for  her 
part  of  the  Bergfeldt  characteristics  seems  to  have 
been  transmitted  to  a  lateral  branch.  But  now  that 
rank  and  giddying  wealth  is  to  be  married  into  the 
family  by  Emil,  she  too  is  beginning  to  become  de- 
luded, and  the  mother's  nature  seems  to  be  coming 
out  in  her,  like  wisdom  teeth  that  appear  late  in  life. 
Any  lasting  kindliness  of  feeling  towards  Frau  Berg- 
feldt is  one  of  the  seven  impossibilities  in  this  world, 
as  any  one  may  know  who  has  discovered  her  narrow- 
ness of  mind,  after  having  been  long  acquainted  with 
her.  When  one  sees  a  woman  like  her  trying  to  rise 
out  of  her  station,  and  yet  so  wanting  in  culture  that 
she  is  perpetually  giving  glaring  proofs  of  her  igno- 


About   Tivclvc-buttoiicd  Gloves.  85 

ranee,  it  is  exaetly  as  if  a  hen  were  trying  to  imitate  a 
skylark.     It  can't  be  done,  in  fact  ! 

I  told  Carl  of  the  business  that  had  induced  Augusta 
to  apply  to  me  for  assistance,  and  did  not  omit  a  single 
syllable  that  had  passed  between  us,  as  I  wished  him 
to  support  me  in  my  resolve  to  refuse  them  the  money. 
For  as  I  said,  have  we  got  the  money  to  throw  away  ? 
Who  knows  but  what  coffee  and  petroleum  may  be 
hurled  up  to  an  unattainable  height,  by  the  new  tax 
upon  corn  ?  Each  one  is  bound  carefully  to  look  after 
what  he  has,  unless  he  means  to  end  his  days  in  a 
workhouse. 

"  Wilhelmine,"  said  Carl  thoughtfully,  after  he  had 
let  me  have  my  say,  and  a  word  or  two  more  ;  ^'  have 
you  felt  these  bad  times  so  very  heavily  that  you  bring 
them  forward  in  justification  of  your  action?" — 
"  What  do  you  mean  by  justification  and  action  ?  If 
5'^ou  can't  express  yourself  a  little  more  clearly,  I 
sha'n't  be  able  to  understand  you."  He  took  my  hand, 
as  if  by  accident,  stroked  it  affectionately,  and  said  : 
"  Now  tell  me,  would  it  not  have  been  better  to  have 
offered  Augusta  the  money  ?  Aren't  you  a  little  sorry 
already  to  have  said  her  nay  ?  " — "  Carl,  do  you  mean 
to  say  you  want  the  Bergfeldts  to  make  a  show  by  our 
emptying  our  pockets  ?  Twelve-buttoned  gloves,  in- 
deed !  She'll  either  have  that  or  none.  It  was  just  as 
if  her  old  mother  had  been  talking  out  of  her,  per 
telephone  !  No  ;  I  say  that  if  any  one  is  to  have 
twelve-buttoned  gloves  it's  me  or  Betti  !  But  we  are 
not  ambitious  of  any  such  piece  of  extravagance  !  " 

"Now,  do  not  excite  yourself,  Wilhelmine.  What 
does  it^matter  about  the  gloves  .?  A  more  important 
matter  is  at  stake— the  Weigelts'  whole  happiness." — 
"  Are  you  in  earnest  ?  "  said  I  uneasily,  for  my  husband 
at  that  moment  did  not  look  at  all  disposed  to  jest. — 


86  Carl  Talks  in  Riddles. 

"  Perfectly  in  earnest,"  he  replied.  "  When  women 
set  their  minds  upon  having  a  thing,  they  will  have 
their  way,  even  though  mischief  should  come  of  it." — 
"Carl,  what  do  you  know  about  women?"  I  asked 
severely. — "  We  were  talking  of  the  Bergfeldts,  weren't 
we?"  he  replied. — "I  could  have  wished  that  subject 
left  untouched." — "  What  I  wish  to  say  is  that  Augusta 
will  get  that  money,  wdiatever  happens." — "  Well, 
then  she'll  get  what  she  wants." — "  Not  altogether,  I 
am  afraid." — "  Carl,  do  me  the  favour,  and  don't  talk 
in  riddles  ;  tell  me  briefly  and  clearly  what  it  is  you 
fear." — "  What  I  fear  is  that  the  Weigelts  will  fall  into 
the  hands  of  money-lenders  and  be  completely  ruined. 
Let  us  lend  them  the  money,  Wilhelmine.  If  Emil 
has  promised  to  assist  them  later,  he'll  do  it.  At  all 
events  they  would  be  out  of  their  difficulty  for  a  time, 
and  be  prevented  from  taking  some  foolish  step. 
What  do  you  say,  Wilhelmine  ?  " 

I  considered  for  a  moment,  and  then  said  :  "  Carl, 
do  you  think  Augusta  imagined  I  refused  her  request 
from  unkindness,  or  because  I  grudged  her  the  pleas- 
ure ?  " — "  The  childlike  trust  she  has  always  felt  to- 
wards you,  will  have  vanished  now,  I  think." — "  The 
Weigelts  are  so  wanting  in  independence  ;  if  one  did 
not  watch  them,  they  would  be  sure  to  commit  more 
stupidities  than  might  even  be  God's  will.  So,  after 
all,  we  had  better  spare  them  the  few  hundred  marks, 
especially  as  your  business  is  in  woollen  wares.  I'll 
go  to  Augusta  to-morrow — it  is  too  late  to-day." — "If 
you  mean  to  offer  help,  do  not  wait,"  said  Carl,  by  way 
of  warning,  as  I  left  the  room. 

I  felt  much  comforted  in  mind  after  my  talk  with 
Carl,  and  went  to  see  about  supper  ;  it  seemed  as  if  a 
weight  that  had  oppressed  me  ever  since  Augusta's 
visit,    had    suddenly  been   taken   off  me.     I   sent  the 


About  2indcvclopcd  Bccthovens.  87 

servant-girl  out  for  a  red  herring,  and  prepared  it  for 
Carl  with  my  own  hands,  using  a  whipped  egg  and  a 
pinch  of  white  pepper,  that  being  the  way  he  likes 
them  best. 

My  husband  had  advised  me  to  send  Augusta  a  letter 
by  the  tubular-post,  to  say  that  I  would  call  on  the 
follovv'ing  afternoon  about  the  money  matter  ;  how- 
ever, I  thought  that  the  twenty-five  pfennigs  might 
as  well  be  saved,  especially  as  I  did  not  know  whether 
the  Acker  Strasse,  where  the  Weigelts  lived,  was  pro- 
vided with  that  blessed  postal  arrangement.  I  wish 
now  that  I  had  sent  one  of  Stephen's  officials  with  my 
message,  for  there  are  some  people  who  cannot  fly 
quickly  enough  into  trouble,  and  the  Weigelts  are 
among  the  number. 

On  the  following  afternoon,  at  about  three  o'clock, 
when  I  had  climbed  to  the  top  of  their  stairs,  I  heard 
music  in  the  house,  only  a  couple  of  squeaking  notes, 
it  is  true,  but  still  enough  to  astonish  me,  for  they  had 
never  yet  discovered  anything  in  themselves  or  the 
children  that  indicated  the  existence  of  an  undeveloped 
Beethoven.  I  rang  the  door-bell,  which  Augusta 
opened,  and  at  once  gave  her  the  good  news,  by  say- 
ing :  "  Child,  everything  has  been  arranged  ;  you  can 
have  all  you  require  most  willingly." 

Curiously  enough,  it  did  not  have  the  effect  I  an- 
ticipated. Augusta  merely  replied  :  "  Come  in,  and 
take  off  your  things,  Frau  Buchholz." — "  Have  you 
changed  3'our  mind  about  the  money,  Augusta  ?  "  said 
I,  upon  going  in. — "  Oh,  no  !  "  was  her  answer, 
"we've  already  got  what  we  required;  fortunately  the 
world  is  not  made  up  of  stinginess."  I  took  a  scat. 
"  What  musical  box  is  that  your  boy  has  got  there  ?  " 
I  asked,  pointing  to  the  child,  who  had  the  box  on  a 
chair  and  was  grinding  away  at  it  in  delight.     Augusta 


88  Taken  hi  by  the  Money-lender. 

looked  embarrassed,  and  carried  the  boy  and  the 
musical  instrument  into  the  next  room.  When  she 
returned  she  said  in  a  matter-of-fact  kind  of  way  : 
"The  little  organ  was  part  of  the  bargain,  of  course." 
— "  How  so  ?  From  whom  ?  " — "  From  the  money- 
lender."— "Well,  I  must  say  it's  very  kind  of  him  ; 
he's  no  doubt  fond  of  children,  and,  the  box  being  a 
useless  thing  to  himself,  he  gave  it  to  the  boy,  I  sup- 
pose ?  " — "  I  did  not  say  that,"  interposed  Augusta  ; 
"I  mean  he  did  not  charge  much  for  it.  Don't  you 
think  it  is  quite  worth  fifty  marks  ?  Well,  he  let  us 
have  it  for  thirty,  and  it  plays  five  tunes." — "Thirty 
marks  for  that  squeaking  thing  !  "  I  exclaimed  ;  "how 
could  you  let  yourselves  be  taken  in  like  that  ?  " — 
"We  couldn't  well  help  it." — "Gusta,"  said  I,  "sit 
down  and  give  me  a  proper  account  of  v;hat  you've 
been  doing;  there's  something  wrong,  that's  clear." 

She  sat  down  beside  me  and  told  her  story.  After 
having  applied  to  me  in  vain,  there  seemed  nothing 
left  for  them  but  to  go  to  a  money-lender,  who  ad- 
vances sums  of  money  to  men  of  Small  means  in  re- 
turn for  some  voucher  with  a  signature. -"  Is  the 
man  a  usurer  ?  "  I  asked. — "  No,"  she  answered,  "  usury 
is  too  strictly  prohibited." — "Thank  God,"  said  I, 
breathing  freely  again.  "  But,  Frau  Buchholz,  in  the 
case  of  persons  with  small  incomes  like  ourselves,  of 
course  there  is  not  much  security,  so  one  is  obliged  to 
take  half  of  the  money  in  goods,  so  that  the  man  may 
have  some  compensation  for  the  money  he  advances." 
— "  Barrel-organs  and  such  useless  rubbish  !  "  I  said 
sharply.  "  There  are  some  useful  and  very  valuable 
articlcfi  among  them,"  she  replied,  pointing  to  a  num- 
ber of  packages  in  the  corner.  "  There's  a  damask 
table-cloth  large  enough  for  a  table  to  seat  twenty- 
four  persons — a  wonderfully  cheap  thing;  some  excel- 


A  genuine  piece  of  Swindle.  89 

lent  rep  for  furniture  covers  ;  three  dozen  pocket- 
handkerchiefs  ;  four  blue  silk  umbrellas,  six  aprons 
and  several  smaller  articles." — "  Will  you  let  me  look 
at  the  table-cloth  ? "  I  asked.  Augusta  fetched  one  of 
the  packages  and  opened  it.  I  examined  the  table 
napkins  and  the  table-cloth.  I  looked  at  them  again 
and  again  before  I  could  make  up  my  mind  to  tell  her 
the  inevitable  truth  in  an  inoffensive  way.  At  last  I 
said:  "Augusta,  the  cloth  is  splendid  and  will  last 
for  ever  if  you  never  take  it  into  use;  but  this  I  can 
tell  you,  that  if  ever  a  drop  of  wet  falls  upon  it,  the 
pattern  will  vanish.  It  is  nothing  but  a  common 
printed  article — a  genuine  piece  of  swindle — not  worth 
a  penny." 

Augusta  looked  at  me  in  amazement.  ''  That's  im- 
possible," she  exclaimed;  "it's  valuable  damask." — 
"It  has  not  even  lain  among  linen,  I  should  sa}',"  was 
my  reply.  "  I  must  tell  you,"  said  Augusta,  "  that  in 
order  to  obtain  the  300  marks  we  had  to  purchase  to 
the  amount  of  400  marks." — "And  all  upon  credit?" — 
"  All  at  eight  per  cent,  interest,  which  we  shall  have 
to  pay  every  month." — "And  where  are  the  700  marks 
to  come  from  ? " — "  It  will  have  to  be  paid  off  gradu- 
ally as  my  husband's  salary  becomes  due." — "  Au- 
gusta," I  remarked,  "could  you  not  have  waited  a 
little  ?  I  see  now,  unfortunately,  that  I  have  come 
too  late.  How,  in  all  the  world,  do  3'ou  mean  to  get 
rid  of  all  these  debts  ?  " — "  We  trust  to  Emil  helping 
us." — "  But  supposing  he  dare  not  touch  the  money, 
remember  it's  hers." — "Well,  but  my  husband's  in- 
come goes  on  increasing  year  by  year." — "  You  will 
need  all  he  makes  yourselves;  as  the  children  get  big- 
ger, 3'ou  will  find  your  expenses  increasing  at  the  same 
time.  Moreover,  a  rise  in  his  office  isn't  like  climbing 
a  ladder,  it's  more  like  a  slow  drive  through  sand." — 


90  A  Motherly  Friend. 

"All  that's  going  to  be  changed.  My  husband  says 
that  unless  he  gets  an  increase  soon,  he  means  to 
go  over  to  the  Left,  and  the  Government  will  then 
come  to  see  that  it  is  standing  in  its  own  light.  He  goes 
regularly  to  his  political  club;  liberty,  he  says,  must 
come  off  victorious  in  the  end." — "  Augusta,"  said  I, 
"  do  not  talk  of  things  you  understand  as  little  as 
damask  table  linen.  Take  all  this  rubbish  back  to  the 
man,  and  let  him  quit  you  of  the  400  marks,  or,  better 
still,  back  out  of  the  whole  agreement,  and  trust  to 
us." — "That's  impossible  now." — "If  I  offer  you  the 
money,  you  surely  have  only  to  say  Yes!" — "I 
daren't." — "  Now,  then  !  just  tell  me  who  dare  say  you 
daren't  ?  " — "  My  husband." — "  What  can  he  mean  ?  " — 
"  He  says  that  circumstances  will  be  very  different  when 
the  Opposition  have  the  helm  in  hand  ;  taxes  are  to 
cease,  salaries  to  increase,  and  living  to  be  made  cheap; 
that  we  shall  then  not  need  to  go  a  begging,  and  to 
expose  ourselves  to  getting  a  refusal.  First,  it  was 
you  that  wouldn't  listen  to  us,  now  we  won't  listen  to 
you.  If  only  the  Opposition  could  have  its  turn  now  !  " 
— "  Augusta,"  said  I,  "  this  is  all  stuff  and  nonsense. 
Have  I  not  always  proved  myself  a  motherly  friend  to 
you  ?  When  I  hesitated  about  giving  you  the  money, 
I  was  merely  considering  what  was  best  for  your- 
selves.    Now,  do  follow  my  advice." 

She  cast  down  her  eyes,  and  said  in  a  low  voice  : 
"  It  can't  be  done  now.  I  have  already  bought  mate- 
rial for  my  dress,  and  sent  it  to  the  dressmaker. 
The  money  has  already  been  partly  spent,  so  matters 
must  remain  as  they  are.  And  who  knows  but  what 
we  may  yet  win  in  the  lottery,  for  which  the  man 
made  us  take  tickets  ?  He  told  us  that  very  often 
those  who  were  deep  in  misfortune  were  the  luckiest 
in  such  thing's." 


About  Birds  of  Passage.  "91 

If  only  I  had  not  said  them  nay;  or  if  only  I  had 
sent  them  a  message  last  night;  if  only  I  had  .... 
yes,  if  only  I  had  !  There  was  little  use  in  blaming 
myself  now;  and  yet  I  felt  as  if  I  had  been  as  much 
to  blame  as  Augusta  herself.  "  We  must  wait  and 
hope  for  the  best,"  I  said,  rising  to  go.  But  before 
leaving  the  house,  while  standing  in  the  dimly-lighted 
passage,  I  threw  my  arms  round  Augusta,  and  neither 
of  us  could  restrain  our  tears.  What  we  really  were 
crying  about,  cannot  exactly  be  said  ;  probably,  how- 
ever, it  was  the  thought  that  the  happiness  and  con- 
tentment which  had  hitherto  dwelt  with  them  up  on 
their  fourth  storey,  was  being  driven  away  by  their 
new  and  grand  connections.  I  could  not  recover  my 
cheerfulness,  much  as  I  tried  to  ;  my  mind's  eye  seemed 
perpetually  dwelling  upon  that  would-be  damask 
cloth,  and  for  long  I  couldn't  get  the  sound  of  the 
barrel-organ  out  of  my  head,  for  which  a  debt  of 
thirty  marks  had  been  inflicted  upon  them. 


THE  CHRISTMAS   FAIR. 

One  of  the  prime  mysteries  in  nature — as  one  may 
read  any  day  in  the  newspapers  when  Michaelmas 
comes  round — are  the  birds  of  passage;  long  before  the 
invention  of  the  compass  they  have  regularly  flown 
straight  away  to  foreign  countries,  and,  in  the  case  of 
the  swallows,  these  journeys  are  made  even  on  the 
very  same  day  and  hour  of  the  year.  Inexplicable  it 
docs  indeed  seem  to  me  that  the  birds  should  all  go 
off  together,  but  as  to  the  reason  of  their  leaving,  that 
cannot  be  so  very  incomprehensible  to  any  one  with 
an  imaginative  turn  of  mind — they  go  for  their  own 
pleasure's  sake;  v\^e  know  that  mankind  does  the  same. 


92  That  Boy  Edtiard, 

In  the  spring,  as  soon  as  the  first  warm  Sunday  tempts 
him,  he  wanders  about  his  own  neighbourhood;  on 
Good  Friday  he  must  be  off  to  the  Spandau  Restau- 
rant ;  at  Whitsuntide  he  wanders  out  to  the  Grune- 
wald,  on  other  occasions  to  Stralau  or  Treptow;  and 
as  soon  as  the  frost  has  made  the  ice  firm  enough,  the 
Rosseau  Island  in  the  Thiergarten  is  the  object  he  has 
in  view.  His  locomotive  organs  seem  affected  in  this 
way  from  childhood  upwards.  Then,  when  Christmas 
comes  round,  off  he  must  go  to  the  Christmas  Fair, 
whither  some  inexplicable  power  seems  to  draw  him — 
four  horses  couldn't  hold  him  back.  It  would  seem  to 
be  precisely  the  same  as  with  the  birds  of  passage, 
except  that  the  Christmas  Fair  cannot  be  said  to  offer 
unalloyed  pleasure,  especially  when  a  thaw  puts  in  an 
appearance,  and  one  comes  home  with  a  border  to 
one's  garments  as  if  some  higher  power  had  dragged 
one  through  the  slush. 

We  had  arranged  this  Christmas  to  go  with  the 
Wrenzchens,  Uncle  Fritz,  and  the  Krauses,  although 
the  Wrenzchens  are  rather  uncertain  people,  owing 
to  his  being  a  medical  man.  The  arrangement  had 
been  made  more  especially  on  account  of  the  Krauses, 
who  much  needed  some  diversion,  for  that  boy  Eduard 
of  theirs  has  again  been  causing  them  a  good  deal  of 
vexation.  Can  there  be  anything  harder  for  a  father, 
who  is  himself  a  school-master,  than  to  have  to  send 
his  own  son  to  another  school  to  do  his  work  there  ? 
It  never  entered  Eduard's  head  to  do  anything  at 
home.  Not  he !  in  place  of  learning  his  Latin  he 
Avould  run  off  and  play  at  Robbers  and  Soldiers  in 
the  Friedrichshain  with  other  boys,  or  would  dawdle 
about  the  streets,  and,  when  locked  up  by  way  of 
punishment,  would  play  tricks  with  the  lamp,  which 
might  have  caused  a  fire.     Then,  too,  when  he  was 


and  his  Practical  Jokes.  93 

thought  to  be  really  at  work,  because  he  was  quiet 
and  seemingly  out  of  mischief,  it  would  be  found  that 
he  had  a  secret  Robinson  Crusoe  or  some  such  story 
book  by  him,  and  his  exercises  would  be  a  mass  of 
mistakes  and  ink-blots.  It  was  inconceivable  to  me 
that  in  spite  of  all  this,  his  mother  was  for  ever  trying 
to  shield  him.  Did  she  wilfully  blind  herself  to  the 
fact  that  his  first  baby-shoes  had  long  since  been  worn 
out,  and  that  he  no  longer  wore  a  little  velvet  tunic 
and  little  white  drawers?  She  would  say:  "  It  is  not 
right  to  torment  the  child  with  such  hard  work,"  and 
would  say  this  even  in  the  boy's  presence.  Eduard 
only  needed  to  pretend  that  the  Latin  gave  him  head- 
ache, for  his  mother  to  say  pettingly — "  Papa  will  give 
you  a  note  of  excuse,  my  darling,  and  will  say  that 
you  were  not  well  ;  "  whereupon  Eddy  would  creep 
away  to  the  rocking-chair  and  give  himself  a  swing 
just  to  while  away  the  time.  Herr  Krause,  of  course, 
did  not  dare  to  make  any  objection,  else  she  would 
immediately  bring  up  the  subject  of  over-working 
young  children,  and  he  would  have  as  little  to  say  for 
himself  as  an  untidy  recruit.  What  a  miserable  speci- 
men of  a  man  he  is  ! 

Things  would  have  remained  in  this  state,  goodness 
knows  how  long,  had  it  not  been  that  the  young  scamp 
created  a  pretty  disturbance  one  day.  It  happened 
thus.  Close  to  the  Landsberger  Strasse  is  the  St. 
George's  Churchyard,  which  has  been  turned  into  a 
garden,  and  benches  are  placed  there,  where  old  peo- 
ple and  sick  folk  can  have  a  rest,  for  into  their  little 
rooms  the  sun  shines  perhaps  but  for  one  shoit  hour 
a  day,  and  maybe  not  even  as  long.  Of  little  folks, 
there  is,  of  course,  no  dearth,  and  no  prettier  scene 
can  be  imagined,  than  when  a  grand  wedding  takes 
place,  and  the  young  couple — in  their  deep  emotion — 


94  Tlie  Can  of  Lamp-black. 

come  out  of  the  church  forming  one  group  with  the 
nursery  maids,  and  nurses  with  little  infants  in  their 
arms — a  group  which  is,  indeed,  but  a  passing  one, 
and  yet  promising  much  for  the  future. 

At  such  moments  the  bigger  children  are,  of  course, 
left  without  supervision,  and  Eduard  Krause  made 
use  of  a  moment  of  this  kind  for  his  disgraceful  piece 
of  mischief.  On  a  heap  of  sand,  where  most  of  the 
little  children  were  grubbing  about,  he  placed  a  small 
can  of  lamp-black,  and  it  is  still  a  mystery  where  he 
got  hold  of  the  stuff.  Now,  as  we  all  know,  children, 
unfortunately,  look  upon  everything  they  find  as  play- 
things, whether  it  contains  lamp-black  or  any  dan- 
gerous material,  and  thus,  scarcely  had  ten  minutes 
elapsed,  when  the  sweet  little  creatures  had  complete- 
ly covered  themselves  with  the  black  stuff,  and  looked 
like  a  pack  of  little  negroes  :  hands,  faces,  clothes 
were  all  full  of  it,  and  the  original  white  of  pinafores 
and  stockings  had  vanished,  probably  never  to  be  seen 
again  ;  certainly  not,  at  their  first  washing,  in  any 
case. 

But  the  Nemesis  had  not  been  asleep.  An  old  man 
sitting  on  one  of  the  benches,  sunning  himself  a  little, 
had  noticed  that  Eduard  had  placed  something  on 
the  heap  of  sand,  and  then  hurried  off ;  however,  as 
the  bride's  carriage  drove  up  at  the  moment,  he  did 
not  pay  any  further  heed  till  the  mischief  was  done, 
and  the  only  thing  was  to  get  the  little  dirty  pigs 
home,  which  was  not  accomplished  without  scoldings 
and  pushings,  and  a  great  amount  of  crying.  The  old 
man  then  related  what  he  had  seen,  and  as  young 
Krause's  ways  were  well  known,  it  was  at  once  sus- 
pected that  he  was  the  culprit. 

Several  excited  mothers  and  some  loud-voiced  fa- 
thers afterwards  went  to  Herr  Krause's  abode,   and 


A    Walk  to  the  Christinas  Fair.  95 

offered  to  sell  him  the  children's  besmudged  clothing, 
and  he  did,  in  some  cases,  agree  to  repay  them  for  the 
damage  done,  although  not  very  willingly.  Eduard's 
misdeed  was  the  talk  of  half  the  Landsberger  Strasse 
for  some  time  afterwards,  and  the  Police-lieutenant's 
wife  told  me  her  husband  had  said  that  if  the  police 
had  been  appealed  to,  the  case  might  have  been  made 
a  criminal  misdemeanour,  and  that  the  father  had 
acted  wisely  in  taking  the  matter  in  hand  and  set- 
tling it  quietly.  Herr  Krause  has,  since  that  day, 
tightened  the  reins  a  little,  it  must  be  confessed  ;  but 
nothing  much  will  be  gained  by  it.  His  reins  are 
mere  threads  of  cotton. 

Hence  it  was  more  than  right  that  the  Krauses 
should  have  seme  diversion  and  amusement,  and  the 
proposal  of  a  walk  to  the  Christmas  Fair  seemed  very 
welcome  to  them.  We  expected  them  to  call  for  us 
about  six  o'clock,  as  had  been  arranged,  but  it  was 
half-past  before  they  came.  Frau  Krause  excused 
herself  by  saying  that  at  the  last  moment  she  had 
missed  her  Japanese  tray,  and  that  she  had  been  look- 
ing for  it,  but  could  not  find  it.  I  said  that  such 
things  were  apt  to  get  lost,  or  to  slip  behind  some 
piece  of  furniture,  and  that  she  would  probably  find 
it  in  the  morning,  or,  at  any  rate,  before  long.  It  did 
turn  up  again,  but  in  a  very  different  way  from  what 
we  had  anticipated,  and,  I  may  say,  it  was  in  a  most 
calamitous  way.     However,  of  this  all  in  good  time. 

We  did  not  wait  long  after  we  had  all  assembled, 
and  we  walked  away  in  the  direction  of  the  Schloss 
Platz,  for  that  was,  of  course,  the  principal  part  of 
the  market.  We  were  somewhat  slow  in  getting 
there,  partly  because  of  the  crowds,  partly  on  ac- 
count of  the  shops  which  had  to  be  looked  at. 
First   one   of   us    and    then   another  kept  calling  the 


96  Berlin  at  Christinas-time. 

other's  attention  to  what  pleased  us  best.  "  No,  but 
do  look  at  this  !  " — "  Oh,  I  should  like  to  have  that !  " 
— "  Just  look,  how  lovely  !  "  And  so  it  went  on  turn 
about.  Many  of  the  shops  really  surpassed  themselves. 
In  one  confectioner's  there  was  even  an  artistic  castle 
made  of  nothing  but  gingerbread,  and  some  equally 
artistic-looking  men  made  of  plums  to  represent 
knights. 

Then,  too,  the  drapers'  establishments  and  the  china 
shops,  and  those  with  bronzes,  and  the  silk  mercers; 
every  one  of  them  were  exhibiting  their  choicest  wares 
and  displaying  them  to  the  best  advantage.  At 
Christmas  time  everything  looks  brilliant,  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  shop  windows  would  almost  make 
one  fancy  there  was  some  special  illumination,  every 
jet  of  gas  and  every  lamp  that  will  burn  is  lighted, 
and  the  brightest  and  most  glittering  things  are 
placed  in  the  windows:  there's  no  getting  by  at  all. 
One  hears  so  constantly  of  the  treasures  of  the  East, 
and  of  the  splendid  bazaars  there.  There's  little  rhyme 
or  reason  in  that.  Before  Christmas,  isn't  all  Berlin, 
with  its  immensely  long  and  brilliantly  lighted  streets, 
one  monstrous  bazaar? 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  modern  splendour,  lies  the 
Christmas  Fair  like  a  bit  out  of  the  good  old  times. 
It  was  the  same  in  the  old  days  when  ray  parents  took 
me  there  for  the  first  time,  and  it  is  precisely  the  same 
at  the  present  day.  There  are  the  same  long  narrow 
rows  of  booths,  the  same  toys  are  exhibited  ;  the  peo- 
ple selling  their  goods  have  noses  as  red  with  cold  as 
in  the  olden  days  ;  and  wear  the  same  sort  of  warm 
caps  ;  and  the  younger  folks  selling  their  three- 
farthing  lambkins,  sawing-jacks,  monkeys,  and  jointed 
wooden-dolls,  and  whatsoever  else  there  may  be,  have 
exactly  the   same  kind  of  thin  voices  as   in   the  old 


The  solemn,  silent  Royal  Palace.  97 

days.  And  how  deliciously  balmy  is  the  smell  of  the 
dark  fir-trees,  whole  forests  of  which  are  standing 
about,  and  the  light  green  pyramids  decorated  with 
bright  tinsel,  and  covered  with  lights.  And  how  com- 
forting is  the  smell  of  the  fresh  pancakes  and  the 
pastry  !  And  what  numbers  of  people,  big  and  little, 
are  enjoying  themselves  as  if  they  had  never  before 
seen  such  a  glorious  sight,  gazing  again  and  again  in 
admiration,  at  what,  after  all,  cannot  be  anything  al- 
together new  to  them.  Jumping-jacks  are  still  to  be 
had  at  the  same  corner  as  of  old  ;  they  are  painted 
red,  yellov.'',  and  green,  with  a  feather  in  their  hats, 
and  their  legs  and  arms  clatter  at  the  pull  of  a  string, 
just  as  in  years  gone  by.  The  hawker's  cry,  too,  is 
still :  "  Front-ways  he'll  nod  to  you,  backwards  he'll 
jerk  to  you,  and  all  for  a  penny,  the  splendid  Jack. 
Buy  him,  my  lady,  he's  the  last  I've  got  !  "  It  all 
sounds  so  friendly-like,  as  from  the  far-off  days  of 
childhood  !  Oh,  the  dear,  good  old  Christmas  time  ! 
What  has  always  made  upon  me  an  indescribable 
impression,  is  the  solemn,  silent  Royal  Palace  stand- 
ing there  like  a  giant,  towering  above  the  market 
stalls  that  look  dwarfed  beside  it.  Round  the  Palace 
is  a  confused  hum  of  human  voices,  and  a  red  glim- 
mer of  a  thousand  little  lights,  as  if  the  shuffling, 
scuffling  Present  could  not  find  a  better  shelter  than 
by  the  side  of  the  unalterable  Past.  "And,  in  fact, 
this  is  the  case,"  said  Herr  Krause  to  me  ;  "  for  upon 
the  self-same  places  where  the  people  in  former  times 
flocked  together  for  their  sacrificial  feasts,  the  strong- 
holds of  Rulers,  or  Christian  churches  were  eventually 
built.  Hence,  even  at  the  present  day  the  annual  fairs 
are  held  almost  exactly  on  the  very  same  places,  and 
the  same  days  upon  which  the  idolatrous  worship  of 
the  heathen  once  took  place.  Who  knows  but  what, 
7 


gS  Of  PreJiistoric   Times, 

exactly  where  we  are  now  standing,  human  beings 
were  once  sacrificed  at  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice, 
while  those  who  watched  the  tilting  matches  and 
shouted  to  their  gods,  probably  stood  somewhere 
about  the  part  which  now  goes  by  the  name  of  the 
noisy  corner  of  the  market  ?  " — "  Herr  Krause,"  said  I, 
after  he  had  talked  himself  out,  "  I  think  you  can't  be 
feeling  quite  yourself  !  Do  you  fancy  a  King  of 
Prussia  would  have  tolerated  such  heathen  worship, 
and  human  sacrifices,  and  turmoil,  in  front  of  his  win- 
dows ?  What  would  have  been  the  use  of  the 
Royal  Guards?" — "I  must  beg  you  to  remember 
that  all  this  occurred  in  prehistoric  times,  when  iron 
was  still  unknown,  and  people  used  stone  knives." — 
"Here,  in  Berlin  ?" — "Assuredly,  here  as  well  as  else- 
where."— "Who  do  you  think  will  believe  such 
things?" — "You  may  see  the  stone  implements  any 
day  in  the  Museum  ;  they  are  obvious  proofs  of  what 
I  have  told  you." — "  Well,  granting  that  people  may 
at  one  time  have  eaten  with  stone  knives  in  Berlin, 
surely  it  can  only  have  been  from  pure  stupidity." — 
"Prehistoric  investigations  corroborate  what  I  say." 
— "  Herr  Krause,  you  are  a  teacher,  and  know  all  this 
better  than  most  people,  no  doubt  ;  but  I  caa  only 
hope  you  do  not  impart  this  kind  of  universal  history 
to  your  pupils."—"  Certainly  I  do,  young  people  must 
be  made  acquainted  with  the  first  beginnings  of  a 
nation's  life  to  understand  themselves  and  their 
position  in  the  body  politic." — "To  my  mind  universal 
history  begins  with  our  great  Elector,  while  the  times 
of  Frederick  the  Great  are  far  from  being  the  end  of 
it,"  said  I,  "and  if  you  want  any  pupil  of  yours  to 
understand  what  he  is  as  a  body  politic,  he  need  only 
know  that  he  is  a  German,  and  that  his  duty  is  to  love 
his  fatherland  and  his  Emperor  with  his  whole  heart. 
That's  about;  enough.'' 


and  Pease-Pudding  and  Honey  Cakes.  99 


What  is  it  that  makes  men's  minds  confused  ?  It's 
a  superabundance  of  cleverness,  and  Herr  Krause 
seems  to  be  suffering  from  that. 

We  had  not,  however,  gone  to  the  Christmas  Fair  to 
quarrel,  but  to  buy  useful  things.  Tradespeople  want 
to  dispose  of  their  goods,  and  hence  come  from  far 
and  near,  and  offer  a  great  selection  of  useful, 
domestic  utensils  at  a  cheap  price.  Herr  Krause,  for 
all  I  care,  may  use  stone  knives,  if  he  likes.  We 
separated,  therefore,  and  turned  our  attention  to 
business. 

Emmi  and  I  set  about  purchasing  a  sieve  which 
she  was  much  in  need  of,  as,  of  course,  it  greatly 
facilitates  the  making  of  pease-pudding  which  the 
Doctor  is  fond  of  having  on  a  Thursday  with  pigs' 
feet.  Uncle  Fritz  meanwhile  was  at  another  booth 
buying  honey  cakes  with  inscriptions  in  sugar,  to 
please  us  ;  he'd  better  have  done  no  such  thing.  On 
my  cake  was  written:  "Old  lady,  don't  grumble!" 
on  Em  mi's  :  "  For  ever  will  I  stick  to  thee,  hurrah." 
The  one  Dr.  Wrenzchen  got  he  quickly  put  in  his  coat 
pocket,  not,  however,  before  I  had  noticed  that  he  had 
coloured  up.  "  Fritz,"  said  I,  with  a  touch  of  annoy- 
ance, "  I  must  say  that  this  sugared  poetry  is  not  at 
all  to  my  liking." — "  Then  scrape  it  off,"  he  replied, 
"and  get  Leuenfels  to  write  something  else.  The 
cake  will  be  none  the  worst  for  it."  Fritz,  in  fact, 
is  incorrigible. 

We  wanted  also  to  see  the  Breite  Strasse,  to  have  a 
look  at  Rudolph  Hertzog's  establishment  ;  in  the  first 
place,  because  the  most  brilliant  display  imaginable  is 
always  to  be  seen  there  ;  and,  in  the  second  place, 
because  my  Carl  provides  that  enormous  establish- 
ment with  various  kinds  of  fancy  articles  which  are 
woven    expressly    for   the   firm.      But  happy  as  was 


100  About  a  Japanese   Tray, 

the  thought,  the  getting  there  had  its  difficulties,  for 
no  greater  crushing  and  pushing  can  be  met  with  any- 
where, than  at  the  corner  wliere  the  Schloss-Platz  and 
the  Breite  Strassc  meet.  Nevertheless,  we  did  suc- 
ceed at  last  in  getting  through  ;  for  it  is  the  custom 
in  Berlin,  when  there  are  great  crowds  upon  holidays, 
always  to  keep  to  the  right  in  the  streets,  hence  it  is 
onl}'  strangers  that  are  to  be  seen  fighting  against  the 
stream,  till  some  one  calls  out,  "You,  there,  keep  to 
your  right,  else  those  huge  beetle-crushers  of  yours 
will  be  trodden  to  bits."     That  quickly  has  effect. 

When  we  could  breathe  freely  again,  and  had  got 
safely  out  of  the  crush  in  rather  a  tumbled  condition, 
we  passed  a  long  line  of  persons  selling  a  variety  of 
small  wares.  "  I'm  going  to  make  some  purchases 
here,"  said  Uncle  Fritz,  "  I  find  I  want  all  sorts  of 
things,  and  I  dare  say  all  of  you  must  have  come 
across  people  with  a  host  of  children,  but  little  else  in 
the  world,  what  do  you  say  ?  "  And  strangely  enough 
each  one  of  us  could  remember  some  such  case  !  How 
flourishing  their  business  became,  when  we  all  drew 
out  our  purses,  it  was  delightful  truly.  Uncle  Fritz 
bought  up  everything  that  was  left,  and  one  of  the 
lads  cried  out — "  Hurrah  !  I've  sold  ever3'thing  ; 
what'U  mother  say  to  that !  "  And  off  he  scampered. 
What  joy,  about  a  few  pence  ! 

Another  youngster  scampered  off  too,  leaving  Frau 
Krause  with  a  Japanese  traj''  in  her  hands,  speechless 
and  horrified,  like  a  petrified  pillar  of  salt.  Herr 
Krause  flew  off  after  the  runaway.  "  My  dear  Frau 
Krause,"  exclaimed  I,  "what's  the  matter  with  you? 
Whatever's  happened  ?  " — "  It's  our  tray,"  she  moaned. 
"Oh,  Eduard  !  "  She  staggered.  Uncle  Fritz  hur- 
ried to  support  her,  gave  her  his  arm,  and  said  : 
"  Try  to  recover  yourself,  and  look  at  the  matter  from 


and  the  incorrigible  Ediiard.  loi 

the  brighter  side."  This,  however,  she  did  not  do,  but 
pulled  out  her  handkerchief,  and  we  had  a  nice  hys- 
terical scene. 

Meanwhile,  Herr  Krause  returned.  "He's  escaped 
me,"  he  called  out  angrily.  "Who  has?"  I  asked. 
"  Eduard,"  he  burst  out.  "  What  a  boy  he  is  !  He  has 
helped  himself  to  my  cigars,  and  been  selling  them 
here  at  the  Christmas  Fair.  The  tray  also  he  took 
....  bored  holes  into  it  ...  .  ran  a  cord  through  it 
....  and  hung  it  round  his  neck.  And  there  he 
stood  among  those  poor  children  I  When  I  caught 
sight  of  him,  and  thought  I  had  got  hold  of  him  .... 
out  he  slips  his  head  from  between  the  cords,  and  off 
he  flies  !  The  police  shall  be  sent  after  him  !  " — 
"  How  can  you  be  so  inhuman  ? "  Frau  Krause  began. 
"Come,  let  us  go  home,  Eduard's  sure  to  be  ina  ter- 
rible state  of  fright." — "  No,"  said  Herr  Krause,  "  I 
shall  remain  where  I  am  ;  were  I  to  settle  matters 
with  him  at  this  moment,  I  might,  perhaps,  be  too 
severe  with  him.  To-morrow  morning  he  shall  ha'^'e 
his  reward." — "  You  don't  mean  to  beat  him,  surely?'' 
whined  Frau  Krause.  In  a  gentler  tone  Herr  Kraure 
then  said  :  "  I  shall  set  him  a  task  for  each  day,  and  " 
— he  added  in  a  more  sorrowful  tone — "  he  shall  have 
nothing  for  Christmas."—"  Surely  you'll  let  him  have 
a.  tree,"  the  mother  cried  out.  ""  No  tree  at  all,"  sighed 
tne  father. 

"  If  those  words  v/ere  a  bridge,  I,  for  one,  wouldn't 
venture  upon  it,"  my  Carl  whispered  to  me.  "  In  three 
days  it  will  all  have  been  forgotten,"  I  replied,  "  yet,  in 
my  opinion,  Krause  ought  to  give  the  young  scamp 
such  a  thrashing  that  nothing  would  be  left  of  his 
jacket  beyond  the  button-ho'es,  otherwise  nothing 
reasonable  will  ever  be  made  of  the  boy." — I  am  on 
principle  averse  to  every  kind  of  flogging  as  a  means 


I02  A  Silent  Party. 

of   punishm?nt,  because  it   is  an  unenlightened  pro- 
ceeding and  inhuman  ;  but  tlirashings  there  must  be. 

After  this  occurrence  we  had  no  proper  interest  in 
looking  at  any  more  of  the  brilliant  Christmas  displays 
exhibited  in  the  shop  windows,  and  so  we  followed 
Uncle  Fritz,  who — by  way  of  making  us  a  little  return 
— had  invited  us  all_  to  Dressell's  restaurant,  as  he 
cannot  well  show  us  any  hospitality  at  his  ov\m  rooms. 

We  might  have  been  a  very  merry  party  had  not 
the  Krauses  been  in  such  utter  distress  :  he  with  the 
furrows  of  anger  on  his  brow,  she  with  her  tearful 
looks  and  spoiled  Japanese  tray.  Uncle  Fritz  had 
ordered  Dressell  to  provide  a  sumptuous  supper,  with 
all  kinds  of  delicacies  that,  as  a  rule,  do  not  find  their 
way  in  among  the  homely  fare  of  ordinary  folks.  He 
can,  of  course,  indulge  in  such  things,  as  his  business 
is  more  flourishing  than  it  ever  was,  and  he  is  inclined 
to  be  lavish  with  his  money. 

But  although  everything  was  excellent,  we  were  a 
pretty  silent  party  at  table  out  of  consideration  for 
the  Krauses.  At  last  Uncle  Fritz  could  not  resist  ex- 
claiming: "Good  Gracious!  are  we  then  to  be  so 
merry,  who  have  little  need  to  be  so  !  " — "  That  you 
ma}^  well  say,"  replied  Herr  Krause,  "  but  if  your  own 
flesh  and  blood  played  such  tricks  with  lamp-black, 
and  then  .  .  .  ." — "  He'didn't  mean  any  great  harm  by 
it,"  broke  in  Frau  Krause. — "  Really  !  "  exclaimed 
Herr  Krause,  as  sharp  as  vinegar.  Whereupon  Frau 
Krause  retorted  excitedly  :  "  You  know  yourself  that 
Eduard  takes  unusual  interest  in  foreign  nations.  I 
can  honestly  say  that  no  boy  of  his  age  is  his  equal  in 
that !  and  how  well  he  remembers  every  detail  about 
Columbus  and  Robinson  Crusoe  .  .  .  ." — "  Now, 
Adelheid,  what  has  all  that  got  to  do  with  the  lamp- 
black, and  his  destroying  the  children's  clothes,  which 


At  DressclFs  Restaurant.  103 

I  had  to  pay  for  pretty  heavily,"  exclaimed  Herr 
Krause. — "  Well,"  she  answered  snappishly,  "  he  told 
me,  for  he  confides  in  me,  because  I'm  not  so  violent 
and  unfeeling  as  you  ....  that  he  wanted  to  see  those 
children  represent  a  scene  in  Ara  Pequenna,  where  the 
negroes  live " 

Herr  Krause  looked  at  his  wife  as  if  he  meant  to  ask 
her  whom  she  thought  of  bamboozling  with  such 
stories.  This  silenced  her,  and  she  even  looked  a 
little  embarrassed.  Uncle  Fritz,  on  the  other  hand, 
maintained  that  it  was  undoubtedly  a  very  amusing 
game,  and  added  that  it  promised  great  things  for 
Eduard's  future,  when  matters  might  be  arranged  with 
a  little  less  black,  and  ended  by  saying  he  thought 
Eduard  had  an  uncommon  degree  of  inventive  genius. 
Frau  Krause,  however,  took  offence  at  this,  and  asked 
whether  any  one  of  us  doubted  the  truth  of  what  she 
had  said;  that,  at  all  events,  she  did  not  mean  to  be 
insulted  in  that  manner,  and  up  she  got  in  a  huff  and 
insisted  upon  going.  Neither  of  them  could  be  in- 
duced to  remain,  and  so  off  they  went,  and  we  blessed 
their  departure. 

We  others  remained.  Herr  Dressell,  elegantly  at- 
tired and  with  a  white  waistcoat  on,  presented  us 
ladies  each  with  a  lovely  bouquet  of  flowers,  and  toojc 
the  trouble  to  see  that  there  was  plenty  of  ice  for  us, 
both  vanilla  and  strawberry,  the  coolness  of  which  was 
irresistible  ;  so  we  soon  recovered  our  good  humour. 
The  Doctor  filled  our  glasses  with  the  utmost  amiabil- 
ity, and  even  peeled  me  an  orange  with  his  own 
fingers.  When  he  chooses  he  certainly  can  be  most 
agreeable;  except  about  those  Thursday  evenings. 

We  ended  the  evening  by  drinking  to  the  toast,  that 
next  year  we  might  again  have  a  Christmas  migration, 
but  only  a  family  party.     I  could  not  resist  adding  : 


104  About  stylishly  got -up  Cards, 

"and  let  us  follow  the  example  of  the  birds  of  pas- 
sage when  the  time  comes  ;  every  one  must  come,  no 
matter  whether  it  be  from  across  the  ocean  or  from 
the  Landsberger  Strasse,  and  thence  on  to  the  Schloss- 
Platz  and  to  Dressell's  in  the  Linden.  A  few  kilometres 
more  or  less  won't  matter.  The  main  thing  is  the 
proper  sentiment  in  the  human  breast !  " 

"Wilhelm  !  "  exclaimed  Uncle  Fritz,  "  that  was  capi- 
tally said,  and  if  you  were  a  man  I  would  certainly 
have  you  posted  up  in  our  electoral  district  !  " 

Of  course,  healths  all  round  were  then  drunk  again, 
and  our  glasses  made  to  ring. 


FASHIONABLE  SOCIETY. 

Through  my  son-in-law  we  had  become  so  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  Lehmanns  that  we  were  very  soon 
on  a  pleasant  footing  with  them  without  any  formalities 
between  us  ;  in  fact  our  intercourse  with  them  was 
quite  friendly,  we  invited  each  other  without  any  of 
those  stylishly  got-up  cards  with  the  formal  "  Genothigt 
tvird  nicht"  *  which  have  become  the  fashion.  For  the 
mere  sending  out  invitations  has  now  come  to  be  con- 
sidered a  pleasure.  The  Lehmanns,  however,  at  times 
fall  back  into  their  old  formal  ways,  as  we  experienced, 
much  to  our  regret ;  this  they  ought  all  the  more  to 
avoid  doing,  as  Frau  Lehmann  is  much  too  timid  to 
manage  large  entertainments,  and  her  husband  seems 
always  to  act  as  though  he  were  his  own  guest. 

*  Until  recently  it  was  in  Germany  the  "  good  old  custom  "  for  the  host 
and  hostess  to  u}-ge  their  guests  to  partake  of  what  was  on  the  table.  The 
words  used  now  on  invitation  cards,  and  even  on  small  banners  decorating 
tlie  diihes,  mean  simply  that  at  supper  g^uests  are  requested  to  attend  to 
themselves. 


and  a  fashionable    Tea-Party.  105 

A  fortnight  beforehand  we  received  a  card  the  size 
of  a  calendar  for  hanging  on  a  wall,  with  the  words  : 

"Assessor  Lehmann  and  his  wife  do  themselves  the 
honour  of  inviting  Herr  and  Frau  Buchholz  and 
daughter  to  tea  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  17th 
of  Januar}^,  at  8.30  o'clock.     R.  S.  V.  P." 

"  Carl,"  said  I,  "  this  is  a  case  of  a  dress-coat  and  a 
white  tie  for  you,  and  a  very  important  matter  as  re- 
gards dress  for  Betti  and  me.  I  can  manage  easily, 
for  I  shall  only  need  to  have  my  claret-coloured  silk, 
the  one  I  had  for  the  wedding,  a  little  altered." — "An 
erection  stuck  on  behind,  no  doubt?" — "  Carl,"  said 
I,  "  it  is  very  improper  of  you  to  speak  of  such  things, 
and,  indeed,  I  should  much  prefer  your  not  observing 
ladies'  external  arrangements  at  all.  As  to  Betti,  we 
have  found  in  the  last  number  of  the  Modenwelt  a  gem 
of  a  dress,  which  will  do  admirabl)^  for  the  season." 

"  Season,"  exclaimed  Carl,  "  what  do  you  know  about 
the  season  ? " 

"If  the  Lehmanns  give  a  tea  party,  then  it's  the  sea- 
son," I  replied;  "Frau  Lehmann  herself  told  me  that 
they  had  to  do  as  others  did,  their  social  position  de- 
manded it." — "  Isn't  it  more  likely  that  she  persuades 
herself  to  believe  such  things  ?  " — "  Carl,  they  have  an 
old  Excellency  in  the  family  and  want  to  show  him 
off;  whether  they  give  their  guests  any  enjoyment  by 
it,  we  had  betternot  say." — Carl  laughed,  and  replied: 
"Excellencies  are  always  well  worth  seeing." — Where- 
upon my  remark  was:  "  I  heartily  wish  them  joy  of  their 
Excellency.  Heaven  knows  what  good  they  get  of 
such  things.  Costly  surroundings  and  a  very  meagre 
effect." 

The  Wrenzchens  were,  of  course,  invited  too.  Emmi, 
who  did  not  know  whether  we  had  all  been  invited 
from  the  Landsberger  Strasse,  came  round  to  inquire; 


io6  Evimis  Little  Dog. 

she  wanted  also  to  leave  her  little  dog — she  had  in- 
vested in  one  after  all — at  our  house  while  she  was 
out,  as  the  animal  cannot  bear  being  left  with  the 
cook.  "  Emmi,"  said  I,  "  that  innocent  creature  might 
be  a  warning  to  you  from  higher  regions,  that  your 
cook  is  a  bad  character,  and  it  would  be  wise  for  you 
to  give  her  notice  to  leave.  Dogs  have  a  very  fine 
knowledge  of  mankind;  your  cook  must  one  day  have 
given  the  creature  a  secret  kick  in  its  ribs,  which  it 
cannot  forgive.     I  can  sympathise  with  it  there." 

"Mamma,"  replied  Emmi,  "Maffi  does  not  really 
like  anybody  except  Franz  and  me,  and  is  so  fond  of 
barking  that  he  snarls  at  everyone,  especially  when 
my  husband  is  called  out  of  an  evening  to  a  patient. 
Herr  Greve,  who  lives  on  the  floor  above,  has  already 
written  to  us  complaining  of  the  noise  our  dog  makes. 
Otherwise,  there's  not  a  nicer  little  animal  in  the 
world  than  Maffi  Pamph." — "That's  a  matter  of  taste," 
I  remarked;  "to  my  mind  its  eyes  are  too  horribly 
like  Lucca's." — "  Maffi  likes  you,  Mamma,  because  of 
the  biscuits  you  bring  him,  and  he  would  be  quite 
quiet  here,  I'm  sure." — "  But  it  can't  be,  Emmi,  for 
we're  all  going  to  the  Lehmanns.  Give  him  an  extra 
good  meal  before  you  leave  home." — "  Pugs  seem 
always  to  be  hungry,"  said  Emmi. — "They  are  greedy 
beasts,"  said  I  agreeing  with  her. 

All  this  trouble  about  the  pug  the  doctor  puts  up 
with,  owing  to  those  Thursday  evenings;  he  even  went 
himself  with  Emmi  to  choose  the  material  for  a  new 
dress,  and  was  not  as  stingy  as  usual.  When  I  praised 
him  for  this  in  a  jocose  way  by  saying,  "  Now,  now, 
dear  son-in-law,  such  outlays  are  altogether  out  of 
keeping  with  your  domestic  arrangements,"  he  replied  : 
"  They  would  be  double  what  they  are  had  we  gone 
into  a  large  house,  as  somebody  suggested."     I  knew 


About  Skating.  .    107 


very  well  that  that  was  a  hit  at  me,  but  I  smiled,  say- 
ing :  "  If  the  house  is  small  there  are  beer  parties 
enough  to  make  up  for  it !  "—And  thus  he  got  what 
he  deserved;  but  in  spite  of  my  momentary  triumph, 
I  felt  more  convinced  than  ever  that  before  long  there 
will  be  a  clash  between  us,  and  neither  the  pug  Maffi 
nor  Emmi's  dress  will  prevent  it.  But  Emmi  will  then 
know  what  she  owqs  to  herself  and  to  her  family. 

While  we  were  thus  busily  engaged  about  our 
dresses,  as  well  as  our  worries,  the  first  frost  appeared. 
Skating-ponds  were  opened  in  all  directions;  for,  as 
soon  as  it  begins  to  freeze,  the  gardens  round  the  beer- 
houses are  immediately  flooded  of  an  evening,  and  next 
morning  skating  can  be  had  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
town.  When  my  two  daughters  were  still  attending 
school,  I  had  no  objection  at  all  to  their  going  to  one 
or  other  of  these  places,  with  their  girl-friends,  for  a 
penny  apiece.  The  only  misfortune  that  could  befall 
them  was  that  they  might  run  against  a  tree  or  a  lamp- 
post. However,  as  they  got  older  I  only  allowed  them 
to  skate  at  the  Rousseau  Island  in  the  Thiergarten, 
because  it  is  there  that  the  more  elegant  portion  of 
Berlin  societ}^  is  accustomed  to  meet  for  the  exhila- 
rating enjoyment  of  winter. 

Our  old  family  physician  used  always  to  maintain 
that  there  was  not  a  more  healthy  exercise  than  skat- 
ing, and,  in  this  respect,  Dr.  Wrenzchen  may  be  said  to 
belong  to  the  same  school  of  medicine,  for  he  is  fond 
of  a  run  on  the  ice  himself,  and  flies  across  the  shin- 
ing surface  like  a  veritable  humming-top,  with  this 
difference,  of  course,  that  he  is  wiser  and  is  gifted  with 
sense.  And,  certainly,  it  is  a  pretty  sight.  Round 
about  the  sheet  of  ice,  the  Thiergarten  looks  like  a 
forest,  and  through  the  grey  wintry  branches  of  the 
trees  the  sky  is  often  of  a  rosy  red,  with  a  touch  of 


lo8  TJie  Icc-Cavalier. 

yellow  like  a  melon,  when  the  sun  sinks  down  on  the 
horizon  behind  Spandau.  The  trees  on  the  banks 
L^re  decorated  with  gay  flags,  every  nation  being  rep- 
resented, and  the  effect  is  all  the  more  enlivening  as 
most  of  the  crowd  of  people  are  attired  in  dark  cos- 
tumes. When  the  military  band  strikes  up  some 
cheerful  melody,  all  the  skaters  pass  in  and  out  among 
one  another  in  time  to  the  music,  as  well  as  they  can. 
Some  parties  even  arrange  regular  quadrilles,  and  in- 
tricate dances  with  taking  hands,  turning  round,  let- 
ting loose,  making  chains  and  again  taking  hands,  and 
one  feels  astonished  at  their  skilfulness. 

The  greatest  adroitness  in  skatmg,  as  in  other  such 
exercises,  is  displayed  by  the  military  men,  and  the 
lieutenants  develop  this  rapidity  of  motion  equally 
well  when  skating  with  the  wife  of  a  superior  officer, 
as  when  acting  the  part  of  an  ice-cavalier  to  a  young 
lady  of  whom  it  is  reported  that  she  will  not  have 
much  under  a  million  marks  at  her  marriage.  So 
here  again  we  have  an  instance  of  that  dutifulness 
which  distinguishes  the  service,  and  can  never  be  suffi- 
ciently appreciated.  Fraulein  Kulecke,  who  is  pretty 
well  up  in  such  matters,  drew  my  attention  to  this, 
and  pomted  out  a  line  of  skaters  where  lieutenants 
alternated  with  goodly  dowries,  and  they  all  had  tight 
hold  of  one  another  by  the  waist.  Some  people,  no 
doubt,  think  it  unbelievable  that  any  girl  could  slip 
straight  from  the  Rousseau  Island  into  matrimony, 
and  with  a  thaw  these  attachments  are  apt  to  meli 
away  too,  as  fathers  rarely  show  any  great  apprecia- 
tion for  the  loveliest  of  eights  cut  upon  the  ice,  for 
such  skill,  although  eminently  artistic,  is  a  very  unre- 
munerative  accomplishment.  Sometimes,  however,  as 
Amanda  Kulecke  declares,  it  is  managed,  for  on  the 
way  home,  through   the  slushy  Thiergarten,  the  cava- 


Not  overawed  by  Excellencies.  109 

lier  may  come  out  with  the  word,  and  she  may  not  say 
nay,  because,  in  fact,  the  girl  imagines  marriage,  too, 
a  blissful  gliding  through  life. 

But  it's  not  always  a  case  of  gliding.  Life  expects 
many  a  one  to  run  down  a  steep  staircase  on  skates. 

The  day  of  the  Lehmanns'  tea-party  had  meanwhile 
arrived. 

As  our  invitation  was  for  half-past  eight  o'clock,  we 
went  at  about  ten  o'clock,  and  arrived  in  very  good 
time,  for  the  grander  an  evening  is  to  be,  the  more 
abominably  late  the  guests  appear.  We  were  far  from 
being  the  last  to  arrive,  but  his  old  Excellency  was 
already  there,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  formed  the 
brilliant  centre  of  light,  owing  to  his  bald  head  and 
his  numerous  decorations.  We  were  presented  to 
him  at  once,  and  His  Excellency  expressed  himself  as 
being  very  pleased  to  have  the  privilege  of  making 
our  acquaintance.  Whereupon  I  replied,  with  the 
most  formal  of  curtseys  and  visible  solemnity,  that 
the  privilege  was  all  on  our  side.  By  so  doing  I 
wished  him  to  see  that  although  we  belonged  only  to 
the  middle  class,  we  were  by  no  means  overawed  by 
Excellencies.  His  Excellency  then  entered  upon  a 
long  talk  with  my  Carl  about  business  in  general, 
which  I  considered  wanting  in  tact,  as  he  might  have 
known  that  ladies  took  no  great  interest  in  such  sub- 
jects. I  moved  aside,  therefore,  with  a  less  deep  but 
well-measured  curtsey,  and  amused  myself  by  watch- 
ing the  other  guests.  The  number  of  persons  the 
Lehmanns  had  invited  was  endless.  To  remember 
them  all  one  would  need  have  been  born  with  a  mem- 
ory the  size  of  an  omnibus. 

The  only  persons  I  knew  were  the  Hamburg  doctor 
and  his  charming  young  wife,  who  was  dressed  in  grey 
silk  dotted  over  with  rose-buds,  and  cut  4  la  Marie 


no  An  uncovifortablr  Crush. 

Antoinette,  which  suited  her  to  perfection.  Betti  had 
been  at  once  taken  possession  of  by  two  lieutenants, 
and  was  engaged  in  conversation  with  them.  Emmi, 
on  the  other  hand,  felt  drawn  to  the  wife  of  the  Ham- 
burg doctor,  and  I  must  confess  that,  although  young 
girls  may  be  lovel}',  young  wives  are  far  more  bewitch- 
ing. There  seems  so  much  depth  of  feeling  about 
them. 

After  a  time  T  found  myself  near  the  seats  .of  honour, 
namely,  round  about  the  sofa  where  the  elderly  and 
most  voluminous  ladies  made  a  solemn  impression  by 
their  ver}'  dignified  appearance  and  the  brand-new  rib- 
bons of  their  caps.  Tea  was  taken  without  so  much 
as  the  sound  of  a  word,  and  with  it  there  was  handed 
round  a  fruit  tart  and  small  narrow  knives  to  eat  it 
with. 

What  was  there  to  talk  about  ?  All  of  us  being  per- 
fect strangers  to  one  another,  no  one,  of  course,  cared 
to  open  their  mouths  with  a  remark  about  the  weather; 
then  one  don't  seem  to  know  enough  about  the  thea- 
tres; and  household  affairs  are  naturally  too  inferior  a 
subject  for  the  occasion.  Guests  were,  moreover,  still 
coming  in,  and  the  crush  was  so  great,  one  might  have 
supposed  the  Lehmanns  had  annexed  the  waiting-room 
of  a  railway  station,  and  that  some  official  would 
presently  be  ringing  a  bell  and  calling  out :  "  Take 
your  seats,  please  !  " — I  kept  thinking  to  myself  :  "I 
wonder  what's  to  happen  next.  If  Vv^e  had  been  in  the 
Landsberger  Strasse  we  should  all  long  since  have 
been  sitting  round  the  supper-table,  and  would  know 
what  we  had  been  invited  for." 

The  room  was  now  crammed  full,  and  I  was  secretly 
beginning  to  denounce  the  season  and  these  fashion- 
able gatherings,  when  some  one  began  to  play  on  the 
piano.     The    Lehmanns   had  managed   to  secure  the 


On  Doleful  Music.  1 1 1 

services  of  a  youth  from  one  of  the  conservatoires;  he 
wore  huge  linen  cuffs,  only  three  pairs  of  which  could 
go  to  the  dozen.  This  youth  then  attacked  Mozart 
and  the  audience  too;  it  was  a  perfect  banging.  This 
roused  the  canary  out  of  its  sleep,  and  it  forthwith 
began  singing  at  the  top  of  its  voice  and  utterly 
drowned  the  music  that  followed.  In  fact  the  musical 
entertainment  could  not  be  continued  till  the  bird's 
cage  had  been  covered  over.  A  young  lady  then  rose 
and  filled  the  room  with  her  shouting.  Of  melody,  in 
my  opinion,  there  was  nothing  to  be  heard,  but  the 
effect  was  all  the  more  melancholy.  As  soon  as  the 
applause  ceased,  she  commenced  a  second  perform- 
ance. It  was  of  the  same  doleful  colour,  enough  to 
give  a  drill-sergeant  the  blues.  When  the  accom- 
panist had  wrung  out  a  few  melancholy  chords  by 
way  of  conclusion,  I  said  to  the  lady  on  my  right  : 
"  There  now,  the  second  child's  dead  too  !  " — "  What- 
ever do  you  mean  ? "  she  asked. — "  Oh,"  I  replied, 
"  that's  what  we  say  when  a  mournful  piece  of  music 
comes  to  an  end." — "It  was  my  daughter  that  was 
singing,"  she  retorted  in  a  stinging  way,  and  turned 
her  back  upon  me. 

In  order  to  show  her  that  her  behaviour  had  left  me 
perfectly  cool  and  indifferent,  I  turned  to  the  lady  on 
my  left  and  endeavoured  to  start  a  conversation  with 
her,  and  began  by  speaking  of  a  flaxen-haired  youth, 
above  life-size,  who  had  at  that  moment  entered  the 
room,  and  seemed  a  fitting  subject  for  remark. — "  What 
kind  of  genius  is  that,  I  wonder  ?  "  said  I. — "  Whom 
do  you  refer  to  ?  "  replied  the  lady. — "  That  very  long 
young  man  standing  there  at  the  door,"  said  I;  "you 
just  wait  and  see  if  he  doesn't  cause  mischief." — "  I 
am  not  aware  that  my  son  has  given  you  any  reason 
for  such  a  remark,"  she  answered  snappishly. — "Par- 


112  A   St  and-:  p  Supper. 

don  me  that  ever  I  was  born,"  I  replied,  remembering 
that  what  one  calls  out  into  a  wood,  the  echo  brings 
one  back. 

I  vowed  to  myself  not  to  utter  a  single  word  more, 
as  I  could  not  possibly  know  in  what  relation  all  these 
people,  whom  the  Lehmanns  had  collected  in  honour 
of  His  Excellency,  stood  to  one  another;  so  I  allowed 
my  thoughts  to  speculate  about  the  ways  of  fashion- 
able society.  From  these  gloomy  reflections  I  was 
fortunately  aroused  by  supper  being  announced. 

In  the  next  room,  which  had  been  kept  locked  all 
the  evening,  a  side  table  had  been  arranged  w^th  all 
possible  kinds  of  eatables,  and  presented  a  very  in- 
viting appearance  when  the  doors  were  thrown  open. 
The  gentlemen  hurried  in  and  gallantly  attended  to 
the  ladies.  Those  ladies,  however,  who  had  no  special 
gentleman  to  attend  to  them,  and  who  did  not  choose 
to  push  themselves  forward,  got  nothing.  I  was 
among  the  last  to  reach  the  manger,  and  succeeded 
only  in  snatching  hold  of  a  small  dessert  plate  and  a 
knife  and  fork;  at  the  same  time  I  saw  that  all  such 
dainties  as  caviare,  pates  de  foie  gfas,  and  chicken,  had 
already  vanished.  Of  the  turkey  nothing  was  left  but 
the  skeleton,  and  of  the  fillet  of  veal  only  the  mark  on 
the  dish  where  it  /lad  been.  There  was,  however,  still 
some  Italian  salad  to  be  had,  also  some  cold  sliced  meat 
which,  upon  closer  inspection,  proved  to  be  American 
tinned  meat  and  Brunswick  sausage.  The  jellies,  too, 
had  scarcely  been  touched.  I  took  a  small  helping  of 
what  was  left,  and  while  eating  it  in  discomfort  in  the 
midst  of  a  standing  crowd,  it  struck  me  that  one 
needed  experience  in  this  kind  of  stand-up  supper,  as 
not  a  soul  thinks  of  pressing  one  to  take  anything;  in 
fact  the  whole  proceeding  seemed  to  me  a  kind  of 
murderous  attack,  and   so  I  quietly  envied  the  sub- 


A  Presentiment  comes   True.  113 

lieutenants  who  had  been  in  front  of  the  battle.  Betti 
told  me  afterwards  that  her  lieutenant  had  brought 
her  a  delicious  bit  of  the  breast  of  a  chicken,  while  he 
had  preferred  venison  with  a  goodly  supply  of  caviare. 
The  younger  folks  had,  it  seemed,  been  making  en- 
gagements with  one  another,  as  there  was  to  be 
dancing  later.  The  Lehmanns  thought  it  better 
taste  to  let  His  Excellency  depart  first,  so  there  was  a 
little  delay.  Wine  and  punch  were  handed  round, 
and  this  brought  more  life  into  the  conversation;  His 
Excellency  was  meanwhile  standing  beneath  the  chan- 
delier, holding  a  kind  of  audience. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  evening  I  had  stated  that 
that  unusually  tall  young  man  would  be  likely  to 
create  trouble,  and  I  proved  to  be  right.  When  I 
have  a  presentiment  of  anything,  it  always  comes 
true,  and  moreover,  so  precisely  like  what  I  had 
imagined,  that  I  should  assuredly  have  been  anointed 
a  prophet  had  I  lived  in  the  Old  Testament. 

All  of  a  sudden  a  fluttering,  flapping  noise  passed 
through  the  rooms,  and  it  very  soon  turned  out  that 
the  canary  had  escaped.  The  young  man  just  men- 
tioned, having  nothing  better  to  do,  no  doubt  meant 
merely  to  amuse  himself  with  the  little  creature,  but 
his  huge  awkward  hands  must  have  so  bent  the  cage 
door  that  it  would  not  close  again. 

And  now  the  fuss  that  was  made  in  trying  to  catch 
the  bird.  Several  brooms  and  a  pair  of  steps  were 
fetched,  and  an  endeavour  was  made  to  drive  the 
creature  into  the  adjoining  room  so  as  to  catch  it  if  it 
were  to  settle  on  the  cornice.  The  bird,  however, 
would  neither  go  into  the  next  room  nor  on  to  the  cor- 
nice. The  chase  became  more  and  more  eager  and 
determined,  and  the  bird  became  the  more  bewildered. 
The  young  man  who  had  caused  the  mischief  took  part 
8 


114  Glad  to  get  Home. 

in  the  chase,  and  in  this  way  tried  to  make  up  for  his 
awkwardness;  but  just  as  he  was  about  to  make  a 
very  vehement  thrust  with  a  broom,  as  if  he  were 
playing  billiards  in  the  air,  he  accidentally  struck  the 
glass  chandelier  beneath  which  His  Excellency  w'as 
standing,  and  fragments  of  glass  came  pouring  down 
upon  His  Excellency's  shining  pate. 

Although  His  Excellency  was  in  no  way  injured,  he 
at  once  intimated  a  wish  to  withdraw,  and  thus  left 
the  company  which  harboured  so  dangerous  an  indi- 
vidual. This  greatly  distressed  the  Lehmanns,  who 
seemed  quite  to  lose  their  heads.  They  accompanied 
His  Excellency  to  the  door,  and  the  Hamburg  doctor 
meanwhile  caught  the  bird,  and  the  dancing  com- 
menced. The  young  people  enjoyed  themselves  im- 
mensely, as  usual  on  such  occasions,  but  I  did  not 
breathe  freely  till  we  were  on  our  way  home  in  a  second 
class  "  rib-breaker,"  leaving  the  stifling  heat,  the  badly 
arranged  refreshments,  the  host  of  people  to  whom 
we  were  utterly  indifferent,  in  one  word,  fashionable 
society,  behind  us. 

When  we  reached  home,  my  Carl  said:  ''Wilhel- 
mine,  if  you  feel  as  I  do,  you'd  butter  us  some  bread 
and  let  us  have  a  couple  of  bottles  of  wine.  I'm  quite 
hungry." — "That's  just  what  I  do  feel,"  I  answered. 
So  there  we  sat  down  at  three  o'clock  of  a  dark 
winter's  morning,  in  a  cold  room  with  ice  on  the  win- 
dows, and  refreshed  ourselves  after  all  the  hardships 
we  had  endured. 

While  we  were  all  of  the  opinion  that  the  Lehmanns 
could  not  have  given  themselves  or  any  one  else  any 
pleasure  with  their  tea-party,  and  were  speaking  of 
the  various  persons  in  the  way  they  deserved,  I  asked 
Betti  if  Uncle  Fritz  had  not  been  invited. — "  Invited, 
he  was,"  she  replied,  "but  he  told  me  he  had  no  great 


Out  on  a  Hunt  after  a  Man.  1 1 5 

liking  for   stand-up    suppers,    and    that    he  wouldn't 
readily  be  found  crawling  into  such  traps." 

Upon  which  I  remarked  :  "I  do  not  consider  his 
words  well  chosen,  but  if  he  means  them  to  refer  to 
the  fashionable  entertainments  of  the  season,  I  must 
confess  I  approve  of  what  he  says  ;  for,  honestly  said, 
I  consider  this  evening  the  most  profitless  one  I  have 
ever  spent  in  my  life." 


ON   THE   WAR   TRAIL. 

If  Uncle  Fritz  had  ever  told  me,  when  I  was  a  girl, 
that  at  some  later  period  in  my  life,  when  I  had  be- 
come a  sedate  woman,  and  married  moreover,  I  would 
one  day  go  out  on  the  hunt  after  a  man  without  Carl's 
knowledge,  accompanied  only  by  the  Police-lieuten- 
ant's wife,  and  that  we  should  do  this  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Red-skins  whom  we  read  about  in  those 
old  days  in  Lederstrumpf's  stories,  where  it  is  said 
they  crept  stealthily  upon  their  enemy  on  all  fours, 
and  then  scalped  him  amid  hideous  war-cries  .... 
I  should  certainly  have  said:  "  Come  now,  you've  been 
wearing  a  new  cap  and  got  a  chill  in  your  head,  no 
doubt." — But,  although  it  really  did  come  to  pass 
that  I  had  to  go  out  on  the  war  trail  ....  can  it  be 
said  that  I  was  to  blame  ?  Certainly  not ;  it  was  simply 
owing  to  the  new  arrangements  that  have  come  to 
be  a  necessity  in  Berlin,  now  that  it  is  year  by  year 
groAving  bigger,  yet  these  arrangements  had  been 
made  for  v^'ell-intentioned  persons  and  not  meant  to 
be  abused  bv  people  without  consciences.  Or,  can 
Herr  Kleines  be  said  to  possess  a  conscience  ?     I,  for 


1 1 6  A   Simple  Matter. 

my  part,  doubt  it,  but  if  he  has,  ft  must  have  a  loop- 
hole. The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  lays  the  blame  on 
my  shoulders,  and  says  that  I  should  never  have  in- 
troduced him  to  them  ;  this,  however,  I  denied  with 
all  the  strength  in  me,  for  it  was  she  herself  who  asked 
me  to  introduce  him,  the  day  when  he  came  up  to  us 
at  Pichelswerder,  and  her  curiosity  would  not  rest  till 
she  knew  who  the  young  man  was  who  was  talking  to 
me,  dressed  in  the  very  height  of  the  fashion.  Then 
only  did  I  venture  to  introduce  him.  If  she  maintains 
anything  else,  she  will  at  some  future  day  have  to 
answer  for  it,  when  our  hearts  come  to  be  laid  open  ; 
for  the  result  will  not  be  altogether  in  her  favour. 
Still  I  do  not  wish  to  say  a  word  against  a  lady  in  her 
position,  for  I  value  her  friendship.  And,  after  all,  we 
are  none  of  us  without  our  failings,  although  no  one 
can  say  that  I  have  ever  made  any  one  responsible  for 
what  other  people  had  done,  or  exposed  them  to  the 
dangers  and  changes  of  the  weather,  merely  because, 
from  a  feeling  of  respect,  they  made  no  reply,  and 
preferred  to  suffer  and  endure,  rather  than  over-step 
the  bounds  of  social  propriety.  If  Frau  Bergfeldt 
had  met  me  in  that  way  I  should  not  have  forgotten 
my  superior  culture,  no,  not  by  any  means,  but  should 
have  thanked  my  stars  that  I  was  not  in  her  shoes. 

The  matter  in  question  was  as  simple  as  possible. 
The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  had  noticed  that  her 
daughter  Mila  had  latterly  been  writing  an  unusual 
number  of  letters  to  her  girl  friends  without  the  post- 
man bringing  any  answers.  This  made  the  mother 
suspicious,  especially  as  Mila  has  really  very  beautiful 
light  brown  plaits  of  hair,  and  has  become  altogether 
very  pretty.  In  my  opinion  a  little  too  fully  formed 
for  her  years  ;  still,  slim  enough,  and  particularly  neat 
about  the  feet;  this  she  no  doubt  has  from. her  father, 


TJie  First  Clue.  wj 


who  is  still  very  fond  of  casting  a  pleased  look  down 
upon  his  well-fitting  boots,  although  he  has  long  since 
passed  that  period  of  life  when  tight  shoe-leather  is 
considered  one  of  the  pleasures  of  existence.  Mila 
certainly  has  not  inherited  her  nimbleness  of  walking 
from  her  mother,  any  more  than  she  has  those  neatly 
tripping  feet  of  hers  ;  for  I'm  convinced  that  since 
her  mother  has  been  tramping  about  the  world,  the 
price  of  leather  must  have  risen.  But  no  one  need 
take  offence  at  this,  for,  of  course,  natural  gifts  are 
natural  gifts,  and  I,  for  one,  consider  it  condescending 
in  a  lady  of  her  position  to  promote  any  special  branch 
of  industry. 

When  her  suspicions  were  once  aroused,  and  she 
felt  sure  that  all  was  not  as  it  should  be,  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  became  watchful  ;  yet,  although  she 
looked  all  through  Mila's  possessions,  she  could  not 
find  a  trace  of  anything.  However,  on  the  day  of  the 
big  cleaning,  when  all  the  furniture  is  turned  upside 
down,  it  came  to  light — for  there  among  the  mattress 
springs  of  an  old  couch  which  Mila  had  in  her  room 
as  a  sofa,  stuck  a  packet  of  letters  tied  together  with 
a  light  blue  ribbon.  All  of  them  were  addressed /^.y/^ 
restaiitc,  and  the  make-believe  friend  to  whom  Mila 
had  been  writing  was  no  other  than — Flerr  Kleines. 

When  she  had  recovered  from  her  horror,  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  locked  herself  into  her  room,  and 
read  all  the  documents  through,  so  she  told  me  after- 
wards :  "  exactly  like  what  one  reads  of  in  novels," 
she  said,  "  and  there  was  poetry  too  ;  Spielhagen 
couldn't  have  done  it  more  effectively  himself,  I  think." 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  Should  she  tell  her  husband, 
place  the  letters  all  in  a  row  on  the  table,  get  him  to 
sit  on  the  sofa  behind,  call  Mila  in,  and  hold  a  regular 
inquisition  that  would  end  in  angry  words  and  scold- 


ii8  About  II err  Kleincs, 

ings  ?  Or  should  she  go  more  cautiously  to  work  ; 
leave  Mila  in  optical  delusion  as  if  nothing  were 
known,  and  lay  hold  of  Herr  Kleines  and  give  him 
his  well-merited  deserts  ?  She  decided  upon  the  latter 
course,  and  therefore  rolled  the  blue  silk  ribbon  round 
the  sinful  literature,  and  confided  it  again  to  the  sofa 
springs.  She  could  thus  from  time  to  time  watch  how 
matters  were  proceeding,  and  by  always  knowing 
what  v/ent  on,  could,  as  it  were,  be  her  child's  own 
guardian  angel  in  disguise.  Of  this  she  was  con- 
vinced—  Herr  Kleines  was  a  mere  family  deceiver,  who 
took  delight  in  making  love  to  young  ladies,  and  in 
breaking  off  the  connection  as  soon  as  he  noticed  that 
the  family  were  beginning  to  consider  the  matter  be- 
yond a  joke.  Thi3  is  one  of  the  dark  sides  of  life  in  a 
large  town  ;  if  anything  of  the  sort  happened  in  a 
small  town,  such  a  man  would  at  once  be  excommu- 
nicated by  every  respectable  family,  till  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  marry  the  girl,  or  if  that  couldn't  be  man- 
aged, he  would  be  dismissed  from  his  post,  and  some 
younger  and  more  honourable  man  would  obtain  his 
place,  with  a  prospect  of  an  increase  in  salar}^,  so  that 
there  might  be  no  excuse  for  his  hesitating  to  accept 
the  offer. 

Herr  Kleines'  character  was  sufficiently  well  known 
to  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife,  for  the  day  after  he 
had  taken  Mila  out  in  a  boat  on  the  Havel  in  the  dark, 
the  Police-lieutenant  paid  a  visit  to  Herr  Kleines' 
lodgings,  and  as  Flerr  Kleines  happened  to  be  out,  the 
Police-lieutenant  had  a  long  chat  with  his  landlady. 
This  landlady  became  as  talkative  as  he  could  have 
wished,  for  it  was  clearly  a  relief  to  her,  once  in  a  way, 
to  be  able  to  blurt  out  everything  uninterruptedl^^ 
"He  didn't  owe  her  anything,  that  she  must  admit; 
but  as  to  order — there  was  nothing  whatever  of  that  in 


and  Ills  Landlady.  119 

him  ;  if  she  didn't  tidy  up  everything  herself,  his  room 
would  look  as  if  it  had  been  tumbled  up  by  an  earth- 
quake. And  then  his  dreadful  and  endless  smoking  ! 
It  was  a  wonder  the  house  hadn't  long  since  been 
burnt  down  ;  her  new  table-cover  was  full  of  holes  in 
no  time,  and  a  bed-quilt  he  had  also  set  fire  to.  When 
she  had  complained  of  this,  his  reply  was  '  that  she 
could  insure  the  things  against  fire  if  she  chose  ;  he 
wasn't  responsible  for  such  damage.'  Was  that  a  proper 
way  to  speak  ?  " — "  About  what  time  did  he  usuiilly 
come  in  of  an  evening  ?  "  the  Police-lieutenant  had  then 
asked. — "  He  goes  his  own  way  in  that  more  than  in  any- 
thing else,"  the  landlady  had  answered  ;  "  no  Christian 
way  of  reckoning  time  could  keep  any  account  of  his 
way  of  treating  day  and  night.  Yet  she  herself  was  of 
a  respectable  family.  Her  parents,  however,  had  left 
her  nothing  but  the  house  to  live  upon,  and  she  had 
been  advised  to  let  out  the  apartments  ;  it  was  a  hard 
way  of  earning  a  living  ;  a  bitter,  miserable  kind  of  life. 
She  never  dared  be  ill,  and  had  to  put  up  with  a  great 
deal ;  for  those  young  men  who  were  modest  and  easily 
pleased  were  apt  to  get  behindhand  in  paying  what 
they  owed  ;  and  those  gentlemen  who  were  punctual 
in  paying  were  full  of  pretensions,  and  impudent. 
Othcrv/ise  she  would  never  tolerate  the  coffee  parties 
they  gave,  that  was  certain,  for  her  father  had  held  a 
good  position." 

"  What  were  these  coffee  parties  ? "  the  Police- 
lieutenant  had  then  asked. — "  They  call  the  ladies  their 
cousins,"  the  landlady  had  replied,  "  but  she  knew 
them  to  be  shop-girls  whom  they  had  met  at  public 
dancing-rooms." — "  Who  do  you  mean  by  '  they'  ?  " — ■ 
''  Weil,  Herr  Kleines  and  Herr  Pfeiffer,  who  has  rooms 
here  too.  I  have  to  make  the  coffee  and  to  provide 
the  cakes,  and  they  are  all  as  hungry  as  young  wolves  ; 


I20  About  Maich-uiaking. 

at  times  I  have  had  to  supply  them  with  as  much  as 
two  marks'  worth  of  cakes.  What  will  be  the  end  of 
it  all  ?  Yet  if  I  drop  a  word  about  extravagance,  there 
is  at  once  an  uproar,  with  abusive  language.  When 
one  has  to  live  upon  furnished  gentlemen,  one  gets  to 
know  what  goes  on  in  the  world." 

1  felt  my  coiffure  standing  on  end  when  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  told  me  of  these  goings  on,  and  after- 
wards, when  I  had  an  opportunity,  I  asked  Uncle  Fritz 
if  he  had  ever  heard  of  such  things,  and  whether 
young  men  were  all  as  bad  as  that. — "  There's  some  of 
one  sort  and  some  of  t'other,"  was  his  reply  ;  and 
then  he  added  :  "  but  the  fault's  not  theirs  alone.  If 
families  were  to  welcome  young  fellows  to  their  houses, 
without  regarding  them  merely  as  matrimonial  specu- 
lations, many  a  one  would,  maybe,  be  more  steady. 
But  as  things  are,  if  a  young  fellow  behaves  at  all  in  a 
friendly  way  towards  any  of  the  daughters  m  a  house- 
hold, the  aunts  immediately  set  about  making  up  a 
match,  which  makes  the  man  fight  shy,  and  off  he  goes 
howling.  It's  no  wonder  that  he  goes  and  plunges 
into  the  stream  of  Berlin  life  !  What's  the  good  of 
perpetually  regarding  society  as  a  mere  marriage 
market?  " — What  Uncle  Fritz  got  from  me  in  reply  to 
his  last  remark  was  not  milk-sop,  that's  certain. 

The  main  point  was,  however,  that  we  now  knew 
enough  about  Herr  Kleines  ;  and  when  the  plans  of 
the  Police-lieutenant's  wife  were  matured,  she  paid  me 
a  visit  and  said:  "Things  have  come  to  a  point  now." 
— "  What  ?  "  said  I. — "  Well,  he  has  invited  her  to  m.eet 
him  at  the  confectioner  Miiller's,  to  have  chocolate 
there." — "  The  place  opposite  the  Central  Hotel,"  I 
asked,  "  and  celebrated  for  its  cakes  ?  " — "  That'll  be 
it,  for  they  are  to  meet  at  the  Friedrich  Strasse  Station." 
— ''  It's  shameful,"  I  exclaimed,  "  to  disgrace  so  wel- 


Wilhebnine  pursued  by  Ill-luck.  12 1 

come  an  arrangement  as  a  city  railway  station  by  such 
wicked  doings  !  " — "  Yet  it  was  you  that  introduced 
him  to  us." — "  It  was  not,"  said  I. — "  It  was." — "  It 
was  not." — "  It  was  so." — "  Well,  I  never  !  "  I  replied, 
with  as  much  nonchalance  as  possible,  in  order  not  to 
cause  any  provocation. — "  Frau  Buchholz,"  she  re- 
sumed with  all  her  innate  refinement,  "you  are,  at  all 
events,  in  some  degree  responsible,  and  must,  there- 
fore, help  me  catch  Herr  Kleines  at  the  station.  I 
have  taken  our  tickets  already  ;  now  do  be  good 
enough  to  put  on  your  things  and  come  with  me." 

I  had  hitherto  always  considered  a  railway  journey 
a  kind  of  pleasure,  except,  of  course,  when  travelling 
in  one  of  those  crawling  trains  that  stop  at  every  tele- 
graph post  ;  but  I  see  now  that  all  depends  upon  the 
why  and  the  wherefore,  and  whither  one  happens  to 
be  going,  and  that  speed  is,  after  all,  only  a  secondary 
consideration. 

I  should  not  have  been  sorry  if  our  engine  had  had 
a  fit  of  explosion,  or  if  our  train  had  come  to  a  stand- 
still ;  but,  as  always  happens  where  I  am  concerned, 
there  was  not  any  such  good  luck  in  store.  How  often 
I  have  wished,  as  a  child,  when  our  last  holiday  had 
come,  and  some  unfinished  work  had  got  to  be  done, 
that  the  school  would  fall  in,  or  be  burnt  down,  or  that 
the  teacher  would  break  his  leg — but  no  such  joyful 
wish  of  mine  was  ever  fulfilled  ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
was  sure  to  happen  that  the  girl  next  me  in  class 
would  be  asked  to  repeat  the  very  lines  I  knew  best, 
and  that  I  had  to  stutter  through  the  verse  which  I 
had  felt  positive  we  should  never  come  to  at  all  that 
day.  So,  of  course,  on  the  present  occasion,  likewise, 
not  a  mortal  thing  came  to  my  rescue,  not  a  vestige  of 
anything  like  slipping  off  the  rails,  nor  the  faintest  bit 
of  a  collision,  and  before  I  had  sighed  myself  out,  we 
had  reached  the  Friedrich  Strasse  Station, 


122  On  the   Trail. 


'■  We  shall  have  to  cross  over  to  the  other  side 
quickly,"  said  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife,  "  for  he 
sent  her  a  ticket  to  Potsdam,  of  course,  for  fear  of 
any  one  noticing  anything,  in  which  case  we  should 
have  waited  in  vain  at  the  station  on  the  city  line. 
However,  I  had  read  his  letter  and  have  seen  the 
ticket  he  sent  her.  "  Horrible,"  I  exclaimed. — '•  And, 
of  course,  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  confectioner 
Miiller  may  not,  after  all,  be  a  blind,  and  that  he  may 
have  the  intention  to  carry  the  girl  out  into  the 
wide  world." — "  Let  us  hurry,  dear  friend,"  said  I, 
*'  there  is  some  crime  in  view  here  that  must  be  pre- 
vented. He  shall  come  to  know  what  Frau  Buchholz 
can  be  ! " — "  And,"  added  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife, 
"  he'll  think  of  me  too,  when  the  crash  unexpectedly 
comes  down  upon  his  head." — "Yes,  undoubtedly,  we 
are  the  thunder-clouds,"  I  said,  continuing  her  train  of 
thought. — "  I  was  not  aware  that  there  was  anything 
thunder-cloudy  about  me,"  she  replied  curtly,  "  and  if 
my  new  mantle  is  too  good  for  such  an  expedition,  I 
need  not  make  myself  any  reproaches.  It  w^as  you 
who  introduced  him  to  us," — "No,  it  was  not." — "It 
was  so." — There  was  no  help  for  it,  she  persisted  in 
her  wilful  opinion. 

Away  we  went  down  the  stairs,  winding  our  way 
through  the  various  passages,  past  the  wigwams  with 
the  ticket-collectors  inside,  first  round  a  pillar  here, 
and  a  corner  there,  exactly  like  Indians  on  the  war 
trail,  till  we  had  found  the  right  entrance,  and  reached 
the  main-line  platform,  out  of  breath. 

Meanwhile,  daylight  had  all  but  come  to  an  end, 
and  the  electric  lights  were  lit.  The  effect  was  as  if 
moonlight  were  shining  into  the  huge  vaulted  build- 
ing that  runs  along  in  a  curve,  somewhat  in  the  form 
of  an  architectural  sausage,  open  at  both  ends  for  the 


A    Weird  Scene.  123 


trains  to  fly  in  and  out.  The  wind,  too,  comes  driving 
through  the  gigantic  funnel,  and  persons  who  have  a 
liking  for  shattered  healths  need  only  run  themselves 
hot,  and  then  sit  in  one  of  those  stations.  In  three 
minutes  the  first  symptoms  of  a  cold  in  the  head  will 
put  in  an  appearance,  or  the  chill  will  be  felt  in  one's 
back.  In  my  mind's  eye  I  could  already  see  myself 
being  rubbed  with  opodeldoc,  and  taking  hot  lime- 
blossom  tea  ;  yet  surely  the  human  organism  has  some 
other  destination  in  life  than  merely  to  catch  cold  from 
a  feeling  of  respectful  affection.  And  one's  temper, 
too,  does  not  get  any  the  better  from  the  waiting  and 
standing  about  ;  there  are  constant  tinkling  and  rat- 
tling sounds,  and  a  continual  moving  to  and  fro  at 
every  turn  and  corner,  just  as  if  the  place  were  regu- 
larly haunted,  for  no  human  eye  can  see  the  electrical 
wires  that  regulate  all  the  communication. 

The  darker  the  evening  got  outside,  the  more  eerie 
things  appeared  in  the  station.  On  looking  out  from 
the  moonshiny  light  in  the  station  into  the  darkness 
which  seemed  scarcely  larger  than  a  hole  in  an  oven, 
suddenly  something  in  the  distance  with  a  couple  of 
fiery  eyes  that  got  larger  and  larger  and  rounder  and 
more  brilliant  every  moment — would  at  last  come  rush- 
ing in,  panting  like  some  huge  monster,  and  then  as 
suddenly  stand  still.  As  soon  as  it  comes  to  a  stop, 
of  course  it  is  at  once  seen  that  the  apparition  is  noth- 
ing but  a  railway  train  ;  but  when  it  first  came  rushing 
from  the  darkness  into  the  light,  hissing  and  spitting, 
I  could  have  fancied  it  some  supernatural  creature 
about  to  crush  to  atoms  everything  that  came  in  its 

Then,  on  every  side  there  is  a  pushing  and  driving, 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  in  front  and  behind,  as  if 
the   devil. had    let  loose  all  his  attendant  spirits  to 


124  A  splendid  Victory. 

frighten  one  ;  we  meanwhile  sat  there  in  a  cutting 
draught,  on  the  watch  for  our  enemy,  our  plans  of 
action  ready  for  the  coming  attack.  Escape  he  could 
not,  for  as  soon  as  he  set  foot  on  the  platform  the 
Police-lieutenant's  wife  intended  to  encircle  him,  while 
I  was  to  stand  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  with  my  arms 
stretched  out  sideways,  to  cut  off  his  retreat.  He  was 
as  good  as  caught  already — of  this  there  seemed  no 
doubt  whatever. 

Just  as  I  was  beginning  to  feel  the  campaign  intoler- 
able, something  at  last  did  happen,  and  although  it 
was  not  Herr  Kleines  that  appeared,  it  was  his  boon 
companion,  Herr  Pfeiffer.  "  There  is  one  of  the  two," 
I  whispered,  "  let  us  to  the  attack."  And  before  Herr 
Pfeiffer  knew  why  or  wherefore,  the  Police-lieutenant's 
wife  had  met  him  face  to  face,  and  when  he  was  about 
to  make  off  by  turning  back,  there  he  had  me  with 
outstretched  arms  before  him,  as  had  previously  been 
arranged.  Our  victory  was  a  splendid  one  ;  he  col- 
lapsed like  a  jelly  taken  out  of  its  mould  too  soon. 
But  he  was  hypocrite  enough  to  pretend  that  he  was 
pleased  to  meet  us.  We,  too,  said  that  we  were  very 
glad  to  meet  so  very  steady  a  young  man,  and  thus  we 
bandied  about  a  lot  of  polite  speeches  that  were  posi- 
tive untruths,  the  one  party  endeavouring  to  conceal 
his  fright,  the  other  their  wrath. 

He  tried  in  various  ways  to  beat  a  retreat,  but  found 
it  impossible  ;  he  said  that  he  must  positively  go  and 
speak  to  one  of  the  porters  for  a  minute.  But  we 
stuck  by  him  ;  thus  any  communication  by  which  he 
might  wish  to  warn  Herr  Kleines  was  nipped  in  the 
bud.  At  last  he  made  a  final  effort  to  frighten  us  by 
speaking  the  truth:  "  Excuse  me,  ladies,  I  must  be  off 
to  meet  a  friend,  otherwise  there  will  be  a  calamity." 
— "  May  I  ask  you  who  your  friend  is  ?  "  inquired  the 


Herr  Kleines  Retreats.  125 

Police  -  lieutenant's  wife.  —  "  It  is  my  friend  Herr 
Kleines,"  replied  Herr  Pfeiffer  in  his  deepest  and  most 
assuring  tone  of  voice. — "Wear  him  in  your  cap,  for 
all  we  care,"  said  I.  And  scarcely  had  I  flung  that 
piece  of  ridicule  at  him,  when  Herr  Kleines  himself 
came  bouncing  up  the  stairs  two  steps  at  a  time  ;  a 
piece  of  glass,  of  course,  stuck  in  his  left  eye,  and  the 
outer  man  was  clothed  in  an  overcoat  the  colour  of 
wash-leather,  like  a  scavenger's,  with  reddish-brown 
checks  all  over  it,  which  made  him  look  more  odd 
than  captivating. 

We  had  thought  that,  by  means  of  the  manoeuvres 
we  had  practised  upon  Herr  Pfeiffer,  we  should  be 
able  to  catch  Herr  Kleines  with  the  utmost  ease, 
but  when  he  saw  us  he  made  off  by  the  way  he  had 
come,  and  scampered  backwards  to  the  point  where 
the  station  ends  and  the  danger  of  being  run  over 
commences.  Can  he  be  going  to  throw  himself  on  to 
the  rails,  to  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  first  chance 
demon  of  an  engine  ?  thought  I  in  horror.  But  this 
was  not  likely,  for  whilst  he  fled,  he  kept  turning  his 
face,  with  the  eye-glass,  towards  us,  and  hopped  from 
one  leg  on  .to  the  other  in  a  most  inelegant  fashion,  at 
the  same  time  making  most  inhuman  and  contorted 
grimaces.  The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  maintained 
afterwards,  for  certain,  that  he  had  even  stuck  out  his 
tongue,  and  said  she  supposed  it  was  at  me,  which 
favour,  however,  I  modestly  thrust  back  upon  her. 
The  whole  affair  had,  moreover,  passed  so  quickly 
that  she  may  have  been  deceived,  especially  owing  to 
the  moonshiny  light  and  the  presence  of  the  many 
people  about,  who,  of  course,  could  not  imagine  what 
had  happened,  and  gazed  in  amazement  at  Herr 
Kleines'  war-dance. 

Surely   we  shall   have  him   yet,  thought  I,  for  he 


126  Mila  Arrives, 


couldn't  go  much  further  unless  he  preferred  death  to 
our  society.  We  had  even  raised  our  hands  towards 
him,  when  he  seemed  to  touch  an  iron  handle,  where- 
upon immediately  and  before  our  very  eyes,  Hcrr 
Klcines  disappeared  into  the  depths,  taking  off  his 
hat,  and  smiling  in  a  bland  way  as  lie  vanished.  The 
fact  was  he  had  got  down  the  luggage-lift ;  fancy  our 
having  to  witness  that ! 

"  Thank  God  he  is  safe,"  exclaimed  Herr  Pfeiffer,  as 
the  boards  closed  over  Herr  Kleines'  head,  and  he  had 
vanished  as  if  by  magic.  ''You  are  glad  of  this?" 
said  I  ;  "  really  I  could  pity  you,  Herr  Pfeiffer." 

If  the  train  from  Alexander  Platz  had  not  come 
up  at  that  moment,  with  Mila  in  it,  I  think  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  would  be  standing  there  still  in  a 
dazed  kind  of  way  (as  if  she  had  dropped  a  tray  with 
dishes),  and  trying  to  understand  how  Herr  Kleines 
had  managed  to  escape.  She  did  not,  of  course,  know 
that  his  business  took  him  continually  to  the  railway 
stations,  and  that  he  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
all  the  arrangements  there.  Otherwise  how  could  he 
have  made  such  unconscionable  use  of  the  luggage- 
lift,  which  was  meant  for  the  convenience  of  passen- 
gers, and  had  not  been  put  up  by  the  State  for  the 
escape  of  miscreants.  Language  has  no  words  for 
him  ;  there  is  no  designation  contemptible  enough  for 
?uch  conduct  as  his. 

Mila  must  have  nearly  dislocated  her  neck  in  trying 
to  catch  sight  of  the  checked  ulster  with  which  Herr 
Kleines  meant  to  fascinate  her  ;  when,  however,  in 
place  of  seeing  it,  she  perceived  her  mother  and  me, 
her  head  disappeared  from,  the  carriage  window  as 
suddenly  as  if  it  had  snapped  back  on  an  india-rubber 
string.  That  was  of  no  use,  however,  for  what  has 
once  been  discovered  remains  discovered,  and  out  she 


and  is  taken  in  hand  by  her  Mother.         127 

had  to  come  of  the  carriage,  out  of  her  romantic 
dreams  of  secret  meetings  v\dth  chocolate  and  the  best 
of  cakes  at  Miiller's,  out  into  real  life  with  electric 
lights,  out  on  to  the  platform  for  local  and  main-line 
trains. 

"  You're  a  nice  daughter,"  exclaimed  the  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  in  the  purest  of  Landsberger  Strasse 
dialects  ;  "  come  here  with  you  at  once,"  and  took  hold 
of  Mila  firmly  by  the  elbow.  Mila  looked  as  miserable 
as  if  she  had  been  one  of  Castan's  blear-eyed  wax  dolls 
walking  in  its  sleep.  I  wanted  to  have  a  word  with 
her,  but  her  mother  said  :  "  Leave  her  to  me,  Frau 
Buchholz  ;  I  shall  address  my  daughter  as  becomes  a 
'mother.  The  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  pack  her  off 
to  a  boarding  school  in  Switzerland,'  and  that  as  soon 
as  possible.  From  all  I  hear  they  are  strict  there,  and 
such  places  as  city  railway  stations  are  unknown." — 
*'  That  is  a  great  advantage,"  said  I. — "  One  word 
more,  Frau  Buchholz,  you  will  be  discreet,  won't  you  ? 
Not  a  syllable  to  any  one  about  all  this  ?  Thank  you 
very  much,  good-bye  !  " 

When  the  mother  and  daughter  had  disappeared 
down  the  stairs,  I  meant  to  have  addressed  myself 
again  to  Herr  Pfeiffer,  partly  to  give  him  a  final  word 
of  warning,  partly  also  to  bind  him  over  to  silence. 
But  he  was  off  "  on  four  dimensions,"  as  Uncle  Fritz 
has  lately  taken  to  saying  when  anything  has  vanished. 
Probably  in  his  fright  he  jumped  into  the  train,  and 
not  having  a  ticket,  I  can  only  hope  his  railway  mis- 
deeds will  not  altogether  escape  punishment.  May- 
bach  attends  to  the  comfort  of  travellers  in  every 
possible  way,  but  any  offence  committed  against  the 
mighty  railway  corporation  itself,  he  punishes  merci- 
lessly. Let  Herr  Pfeiffer  and  Herr  Kleines  remember 
that  !     It  is  quite  possible  that,  in  some  such  case  and 


128  End  of  the  Love  Affair. 

in  the  interest  of  families,  Maybach  might  order  the 
luggage-lift  to  be  nailed  down,  and  any  such  result  of 
our  war  trail  would  be  welcome  news  to  aggrieved 
mothers.  To  attain  such  results,  the  German  people 
have  been  given  the  right  to  raise  complaints,  and  who 
can  prevent  them  ?  But  these  complaints  generally 
lead  to  one's  being  told  that  all  such  things  are  better 
managed  abroad  than  in  our  country.  Woman,  too, 
has  her  political  rights,  and  does  not  need  to  allow 
herself  to  be  imposed  upon. 

The  Police-lieutenant's  wife  told  me  two  days  after- 
wards that  Mila  is  soon  to  be  sent  away  to  Switzer- 
land, where  she  is  to  receive  instruction  in  languages 
and  comportment.  The  mother  said  she  had  torn  Herr 
Kleines  out  of  the  girl's  heart  by  the  root — indeed  the 
girl  confessed  to  have  found  him  more  comic  and 
.amusing  than  anything  else,  and  seems  not  to  have 
taken  the  matter  very  seriously.  So  this  love  affair 
of  a  summer's  day  may  be  considered  at  an  end. 
Nevertheless,  I  approve  of  the  precaution  taken  in 
sending  Mila  away  from  the  neighbourhood  where  her 
admirer  resides,  and  we  are,  therefore,  not  likely  again 
ti-  be  called  upon  to  go  out  on  the  war  trail.  Mila, 
too,  will  make  progress  with  her  studies,  which  is  very 
necessary,  for,  although  we  do  not  make  any  preten- 
sion to  occupying  as  high  a  social  position  as  the 
Police-lieutenants,  I  can  truthfully  say  that  in  litera- 
ture, history,  and  such  knowledge,  our  Betti  is  a  good 
bit  in  advance  of  Mila,  in  fact  as  far  as  the  Belle 
Alliance  Platz  is  from  the  Wedding. 


Carl  busy  at  his  Books.  129 


BETTI. 

Fortunately  the  season  was  now  behind  us  again, 
and  we  were  living  a  harmless  kind  of  life.  My  Carl 
had  to  devote  more  time  to  his  books  than  he  had  ever 
done  before,  and  seemed  to  entertain  the  wish  of  ex- 
tending his  business  and  to  depend  more  upon  his  own 
manufactures,  if  only  he  could  have  obtained  the  right 
sort  of  help.  As,  however,  he  seemed  unable  to  find  a 
suitable  partner,  the  business  had  to  remain  as  it  w^as, 
and  he  had  to  manage  alone.  Betti  and  I,  of  course, 
did  our  best  to  make  his  life  as  pleasant  as  possible  in 
various  ways,  for  it  was,  in  reality,  only  for  us  that 
Carl  kept  busy  at  his  books  far  into  the  night.  He, 
on  the  other  hand,  seemed  specially  concerned  about 
Betti's  welfare,  and  would  say  he  wanted  to  see  things 
comfortably  settled  regarding  her  future.  When  I 
reproached  him  by  saying  that  he  was  overworking 
himself,  he  would  reply  :  "  Do  not  worry,  child  ! 
Before  the  day  comes  for  me  to  close  my  eyes,  I  want 
to  be  sure  that  neither  of  you  will  want." — "  Carl," 
said  I,  "  do  not  talk  in  that  way,  it  pains  me.  What- 
ever should  I  want  with  Mammon  without  you  ?  Do 
take  care  of  yourself.  Keep  warm,  and  do  not  have 
such  melancholy  thoughts  ;  you'll  become  hypochon- 
driacal, and  lose  your  appetite." — "Well,  well,  Wilhel- 
mine,  as  you  like,  but  there's  no  use  trying  to  conceal 
the  fact  that  we  are  neither  of  us  young  people  any 
longer." 

Of  such  conversations  Betti,  of  course,  was  told 
nothing.  She,  quite  contrary  to  her  former  ways,  was 
now  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  household  ar- 
rangements, and  no  grass  was  allowed  to  grow  under 
her  feet.  And  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that,  of 
Q 


130  About  Poetical  Instruction. 

an  afternoon,  she  occupied  herself  with  literature. 
Her  attempts  at  verse-making  were  still  not  very  suc- 
cessful, although  Herr  Leuenfels  came  from  time  to 
time  to  instruct  her  in  the  fundamental  principles  of 
poetr3^  In  these  lessons  I  silently  took  part,  sitting  at 
my  work  table,  for  one  can  never  know  in  what  way 
poetry  may  prove  useful  some  day. 

Poetical  instruction  of  this  kind  is  by  no  means  an 
easy  matter.  At  first  Betti  was  made  to  select  a  number 
of  convenient  words,  such  as  :  wall,  warm,  pearl,  and 
flower,  and  had  to  think  of  as  many  rhymes  to  these  as 
she  could  find,  and  then  make  verses  of  the  collected 
words.  The  verses  did  not  become  beautiful,  some 
hadn't  even  a  vestige  of  sense,  but  even  Herr  Leuenfels 
declared  these  exercises  to  be  utterly  indispensable,  in- 
asmuch as  persons  not  quick  at  rhymes  would  never 
produce  anything  great  in  poetry.  He  said  that  even 
the  so-called  classic  writers  (and  Leuenfels  somehow 
had  a  mighty  pique  against  them)  were  bunglers  at 
rhyming,  and  had,  moreover,  perpetually  borrowed 
from  the  ancient  Greeks,  and  other  such  careless  poets. 

"  You  must  be  mistaken  there,  or  be  thinking  of 
some  one  else,"  said  I,  disputing  his  remark.  "  Do 
you  mean  to  say  that  Schiller — that  noble  soul — 
decked  himself  with  the  feathers  of  others  ?  '  No,' 
say  I,  his  earthly  sojourn  was  too  honest  for  that." 

"  Pshaw  !  He  honest,  indeed  !  "  exclaimed  Leuen- 
fels disparagingly;  "  why,  he  had  his  cellars  full  of  the 
best  of  wines." — "  And  he  deserved  to,"  I  replied. — 
"  For  those  commonplace  rhymes  of  his  ?  " — "  It's  not 
every  one  can  make  as  good  ones,"  said  I,  getting 
personal  ;  "  and  as  to  his  having  copied  others,  I  don't 
believe  it."  In  place  of  answering  me,  Leuenfels  took 
a  volume  of  Shakespeare  and  one  of  Schiller  out  of 
the  bookrC^se,  and  turned  up  certain    passages  where 


Schiller  charged  zvitJi  Plagiarism.  131 

he  said  Schiller's  dishonesty  was  most  distinctly  evi- 
dent. "  In  '  Hamlet,'  "  he  said,  "  we  find  the  words 
'  Fare  well,'  and  in  Schiller's  Cabale  und  Liebc  '  Fare 
well.'  In  the  same  way  in  *  Hamlet '  we  find,  '  there 
comes  the  King,'  and  in  Schiller's  'yungfrau  von  Orleans 
precisely  the  very  same  words.  And  his  Louise  Mil- 
lerin  says  '  Oh,'  and  '  Ophelia  '  says  '  Oh,'  and  there 
are  numberless  instances  of  the  kind." 

"  Now  you  see,  Mamma,"  said  Betti,  who  had  been 
helping  Herr  Leuenfels  compare  the  passages,  "  if 
S,chiller  had  done  this  at  an  examination,  he  would 
never  have  been  allowed  to  pass." 

"And  to  think  that  for  all  this  length  of  time  his 
works  have  nevertheless  been  described  as  classic  !  " 
I  exclaimed  in  dismay;  "whom  can  one  trust  now- 
adays ?     Everything  is  false." 

"  We  can  tell  to  a  nicet}',  in  the  case  of  all  of  them, 
where  they  have  been  light-fingered,"  said  Leuenfels  ; 
"  but  we  younger  poets  do  not  let  anything  escape  us 
with  regard  to  their  so-called  heroic  minds  ;  we  are 
pitilessly  searching  in  our  work." 

I  felt  as  if  struck  dumb  at  this  discovery,  for,  hon- 
estly said,  I  loved  my  Schiller  ;  he  was  more  to"  me 
than  any  other  poet.  "  Did  he  steal  his  'Song  of  the 
Bell '  too  ?  "  I  asked. — "  Of  this  we  have  as  yet  not 
obtained  any  reliable  information,"  replied  Leuenfels. 
— "That  is,  at  all  events,  some  comfort,  for  I  know  it 
almost  all  by  heart,  and  it  would  be  very  disagreeable 
to  think  one  were  carrying  stolen  goods  about  in  one's 
memory." 

"  It  is  time  that  this  excessive  praise  came  to  an 
end,"  added  Leuenfels.  "Why  is  it  that  the  public 
extol  the  ancient  writers  and  neglect  the  younger 
school  of  poets  in  such  an  unwarrantable  manner  ? 
The  works  of  ancient  writers  are  purchased,  while  we 


132  Beer  versus  Poetry. 

are  left  to  grow  mouldy  in  editors'  desks.  The  feel- 
ing for  genuine  poetry  has  died  out  among  the  peo- 
ple.' — "  Do  not  be  too  hard  upon  the  people,"  said  I, 
by  way  of  consoling  him  ;  "depend  upon  it,  you  will 
be  admired  when  you  are  dead."  He  threw  himself 
into  an  arm-chair,  pushed  all  his  ten  fingers  through 
his  fair  hair,  and  said,  moaning  :  '*  I  feel  it  ;  I  was 
born  into  this  ungrateful  world  a  century  before  my 
time  ! "  Thereupon,  with  a  scofifing  laugh,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Why  did  I  not  think  of  starting  a  beer- 
house !  " — "  You  can  do  so  still,"  said  I,  "  if  the  peo- 
ple absolutely  refuse  to  have  their  tastes  purified. 
Moreover,  I  do  believe  they  understand  beer  better 
than  poetry.  Test  them  by  putting  a  book  of  poetry 
by  the  side  of  a  beautiful  cool  pint  of  beer  ;  you  will 
see  which  they  will  grasp  at  first." — "  They  are  not 
worthy  of  our  writing  poetry  for  them.  And  for  all  I 
care,  let  them  sink  into  the  slough  of  their  own  vul- 
garity. I  will  shatter  my  harp,  and  leave  the  people 
to  perish." — "What  cruelty!"  I  exclaimed;  "do  try 
once  or  twice  again  in  kindliness  of  spirit,  a3  Abraham 
did  with  the  people  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  before 
God  cast  His  dynamite  upon  them." 

"  How  can  I  do  so,  when  no  one  will  listen  to 
me  ? "  he  began  again.  "  Into  the  paper-basket  they 
have  cast  my  songs,  and — oh,  woe  is  me  ! — among  the 
'Editor's  Gossip'  have  I  been  scoffed  at !  "  The  poor 
creature — I  really  began  to  pity  him.  "  Need  every- 
thing be  written  in  rhyme  ? "  said  I,  meaning  to  speak 
compassionately  and  cheerfully  at  the  same  time ; 
"  there  are  people  who  cannot  stand  the  smell  of 
onions,  and  others  who,  before  midsummer  day,  like 
eating  the  green  herbs  above  the  earth,  and  after  mid- 
summer the  roots  from  below  the  ground.  It  may  be 
the  same  with  poetry  ;  it  may  be  one  person's  favour- 


TJic  Patent  Fir-Trcc.  133 

ite  dish,  while  another  mightn't  care  to  touch  it  even 
with  his  fingers.  To  speak  honestly,  I  myself  prefer 
what  is  not  written  in  rh^'^me,  for  it's  only  very  rarely  that 
people  speak  in  verse,  and  then  they  do  so  only  when 
their  imaginations  are  too  active,  and  leeches  have  to 
be  applied,  and  ice  put  on  their  heads.  I  would 
advise  you  to  try  and  write  plain  intelligible  German 
prose,  instead  of  rhymed  verses  ;  I'm  sure  it  would  be 
more  welcome  " — "  Prose  !  "  he  cried  out  in  a  voice  of 
despair — "  wretched  prose  !  " — "  My  daughter,  too,  has 
more  talent  for  v.'hat  is  simple,  I  think  ;  don't  you 
think  you  have,  Betti  ?  " — "Poetry  has  certainly  not 
come  within  my  grasp  yet,"  Betti  replied.  "Let  Herr 
Leuenfels  hear  the  little  story  you  have  been  writing." 
— "  It's  too  trivial  ;  I  should  feel  ashamed  of  it." — 
"  Please,  let  me  hear  it,  Fraulein  Buchholz,"  said 
Leuenfels  ;  "  I  did  not  say  that  I  considered  prose  to 
be  absolutely  superfluous."  He  will  give  in  by  and 
by,  thought  I. 

Betti  went  to  fetch  her  story  ;  it  was  one  she  had 
presented  to  her  father  at  Christmas,  and  it  had 
pleased  us  immensely,  for  she  had  done  it  all  out  of 
her  own  head  without  any  help.  The  tree  that  she 
wrote  about  she  had  seen  in  a  shop — that  was  all. 
The  mother,  the  father,  and  the  children  were  all  un- 
knov/n  to  her  ;  she  had  invented  them  all  herself.  I 
was  therefore  very  anxious  to  hear  what  Feodor 
Wichmann-Leuenfels  would  say  to  it ;  but  Betti  was 
a  little  bashful,  for  she  stuttered  rather  at  the  begin- 
ning in  reading  out  the  title,  "The  Patent  Fir-Tree." 
"That  is  pure  nonsense  !"  exclaimed  Leuenfels,  inter- 
rupting her. — "  It  is  not,"  I  replied  ;  "  the  thing  ex- 
isted, and  what  has  existed  is  not  nonsense.  But  you 
are  not  to  interrupt  her  again,  else  I  shall  be  annoyed," 
Betti  continued  : 


134  The  Secret  in  the  Pedestal. 

"  It  had  come  from  America  carefully  packed  in  a 
box.  The  several  parts  were  numbered,  so  that  they 
could  be  put  together  in  the  manner  intended,  and 
when  all  the  different  parts  had  been  fitted  into  one 
another,  there  stood  the  patent  fir-tree  trim  and  ready. 
The  trunk  looked  almost  exactly  like  a  real  trunk, 
only  it  was  a  little  more  glossy  than  the  reality,  for  it 
had  a  coat  of  sp'endid  patent  varnish  :  the  branches 
too  were  very  much  more  regularly  placed  than  is 
generally  seen  in  a  poor  forest  tree,  they  were  all 
curved  so  evenly  and  regularly  one  would  have  sup- 
posed they  had  all  enjoyed  the  same  lessons  in  de- 
portment. And  how  beautifully  green  the  branches 
were  !  In  place  of  needles  they  were  covered  with 
fine  soft  chenille,  which  the  dyer  had  coloured  with 
his  brightest  of  greens.  There  was  not  a  tree  in  the 
wide  world  as  green.  Every  one  of  the  wire  branches 
hal  a  candle-holder,  and  there  were  small  hooks  for 
fastening  on  the  sweetmeats,  silver  apples,  and  golden 
nuts.  The  nuts  and  apples  too  were  made  of  metal 
by  some  patented  process.  They  could  not,  of  course, 
be  eaten,  but  on  the  other  hand,  could  be  used  over 
and  over  again  as  Christmas  came  round.  Then,  too, 
the  stand  upon  which  the  tree  was  fixed  was  of  cast- 
iron,  nickel-plated,  and  had  an  inscription  which  in- 
formed every  one  who  could  read,  that  the  tree  was  a 
patent  one.  The  stand  moreover  had  a  spring,  the 
secret  about  which  was  not  to  be  revealed  till  Christ- 
mas Eve  came  ;  for  even  this  secret  was  a  patent. 

"  In  fact,  there  never  was  a  more  patented  fir-tree 
than  this  American  piece  of  mechanism. 

"Christmas  Eve  arrived;  and  while  the  children 
were  anxiously  awaiting  the  moment  for  the  doors  of 
the  room  containing  the  tree  and  the  presents  to  be 
opened,  the  parents  were  in  the  room  arranging  the 


A  'Brill  aiit  Scene.  135 

tables.  Affection  had  assisted  in  the  selection  of  the 
various  gifts,  and  again  it  was  affection  that  lent  a 
hand  in  placing  the  gifts  in  as  pleasing  a  manner  as 
possible,  in  order  that  the  eyes  of  those  who  were  to 
receive  them  should  at  once  catch  sight  of  what  they 
had  most  wished  to  possess.  Again,  several  of  the 
gifts  were  carefully  hidden,  so  as  to  be  discovered, 
and  by  this  means  a  new  surprise  was  created  after 
the  first  delight  had  subsided  a  little.  In  the  midst  of 
all  these  gifts  stood  the  patent  fir-tree. 

''The  parents,  in  quiet  and  expectant  jo)^,  gave  a 
last  look  round  at  the  pleasant  scene  which  they  knew 
would  make  the  children's  hearts  beat  with  greater 
glee  than  upon  any  other  sight  during  the  year. 

"  '  I  do  not  see  anything  wanting,'  said  the  mother, 
'  yet  it  strikes  me  that  I  miss  something,  but  cannot 
make  out  what  it  is.' 

"  'It  is  the  brightness  of  Christmas,  I  think,'  replied 
the  father  ;  '  let  us  light  the  candles,  their  brightness 
will  give  the  finishing  touch.' 

*'  When  the  lights  on  the  patent  tree  were  lit,  the 
doors  were  thrown  open  and  the  children  stood  on  the 
threshold  dazzled  by  the  brilliant  scene.  When,  how- 
ever, they  v/ere  led  up  to  their  several  little  heaps  of 
presents,  each  one  to  a  separate  place,  they  burst  out 
in  joyous  exclamations  ;  again  had  come  that  moment 
of  blissful  giving  and  joyous  acceptance. 

"  '  Have  you  examined  the  fir-tree  carefully  ?'  said 
the  father  after  a  time. 

"  '  Is  it  a  real  fir-tree  ? '  asked  one  of  the  boys. 

"'  No,  but  much  more  beautiful.  Now  watch  how 
wonderful  it  is.' 

"With  these  words  the  father  pressed  a  little  button 
attached  to  the  nickel-plated  stand,  and  the  tree  slowly 
commenced  to  turn  round  ;  a  musical  box  too  began 


136  A  Musical  Tree. 


to  play  a  lively  dance.  This  was  the  secret  of  the 
patent  fir-tree. 

"A  Christmas  tree  that  could  turn  and  play  tunes 
by  itself  was  a  thing  the  children  had  never  seen. 
'  How  do  you  like  it  ? '  asked  the  father,  and  again 
wound  up  the  clock-work. 

"  The  children  did  not  answer  at  first,  then  one  of 
the  boys  asked  :  '  Did  this  tree  ever  stand  in  a  forest 
among  other  trees,  and  ever  listen  to  the  stories  the 
fairies  tell,  like  those  in  my  story  book  ?' — The  father 
smiled,  and  said  :  '  No,  this  is  not  a  fairy-tree,  but  was 
made  by  a  clever  man  in  America.' 

"'It  doesn't  smell  like  Christmas,'  said  his  sister. 
*  Now  I  know  what  it  was  I  missed,'  whispered  the 
mother  to  the  father,  '  the  tree  does  not  give  out  the 
aroma  that  the  firs  of  our  forests  do.  It  wants  the  fra- 
grance.' Whether  it  was  that  the  patent  tree  noticed 
that  it  Vi'as  being  spoken  of  disparagingly,  it  is  difficult 
to  say.  but  just  at  that  moment  something  cracked  in 
the  clock-work,  and  while  a  new  and  merrier  tune 
commenced,  the  tree,  too,  began  turning  round  quicker 
than  before.  One  might  have  fancied  that  the  tree 
wanted  to  show  off  all  it  could  do.  But  this  only 
seemed  so,  for,  in  fact,  the  new  tune  and  the  quicker 
movement  were  patents  also. 

"  The  mother  had  meanwhile  gone  out,  and  when 
she  returned  after  a  short  time,  she  was  carrying  a 
small  real  fir-tree,  the  very  last  one  to  be  had  of  a  man 
in  the  street  who  had  been  offering  it  to  passers-by, 
but  had  been  unable  to  sell  it,  owing  to  its  looking  too 
miserable  and  poor.  The  mother  took  the  sweetmeats 
from  the  patent  tree  and  decorated  the  little  tree  she 
had  purchased  ;  paper  nets  and  gold  paper  chains 
were  also  hung  upon  it,  and  candles  were  fastened  on 
to  the  branches.     A  little  table   covered   with  a  white 


The  Patent  Fir-Tree  taken  to  Bits.  157 

cloth  was  brought  in  for  it  to  stand  upon,  and  soon  its 
candles  were  lighted  and  the  children  gathered  round 
it.  '  This  is  a  real  Christmas,  now  ! '  they  exclaimed. 
And  when  one  of  the  candles  in  toppling  over  a  little, 
set  fire  to  the  needles  of  a  neighbouring  branch,  mak- 
ing a  fizzing  noise,  the  fire  had  to  be  blown  out.  A 
light  streak  of  smoke  rose  from  the  tree.  '  Now  it  is 
Christmas  more  than  ever  !  '  the  children  again  cried 
out. 

"  The  patent  fir-tree  had  meanwhile  been  standing 
still  again,  as  no  one  had  wound  it  up,  but  the  little 
forest  tree  with  its  fresh  aromatic  smell  sent  a  per- 
fume over  the  whole  room.  The  candle  that  had  leant 
over  a  little  had  helped  in  this  as  far  as  it  was  able. 

"When  visitors  came  during  the  holiday  week,  the 
patent  tree  was  exhibited  and  had  to  perform  its  feats. 
Every  one  thought  it  very  wonderful  ;  but  as  Christ- 
mas Eve  was  past  no  one  seemed  to  notice  that  it 
lacked  what  was,  after  all,  the  best  part  about  the  real 
tree — the  power  to  awaken  memories,  the  memory  of 
former  Christmas  Eves,  and  of  the  green  forest  that  was 
slumbering  beneath  a  white  covering  of  snow,  await- 
ing the  resurrection  of  spring. 

"  Some  days  afterwards  the  patent  fir-tree  was  taken 
to  bits,  packed  in  its  box,  and  placed  in  the  loft,  every 
numbered  piece  of  the  trunk,  every  numbered  branch 
being  carefully  rolled  up  in  tissue  paper.  I  doubt, 
however,  whether  it  will  be  fetched  down  this  Christ- 
mas and  put  up  again,  for  I  have  heard  that  a  beauti- 
ful large  fir-tree  has  been  ordered,  so  tall  that  it  will 
almost  touch  the  ceiling,  nuts  also,  with  real  kernels, 
and  apples  that  can  be  eaten,  are  to  be  gilded  over 
and  silvered  of  an  evening  after  the  children  are 
asleep. 

"These  are  bad  prospects  for  the  patent  fir-tree." — 


138  A  Doivnpour  of  Abuse. 

Betti  ceased  and  cast  down  her  eyes  as  if  she  had 
been  thieving  or  had  committed  some  silliness  that 
she  was  ashamed  of  ;  but  I  enjoyed  hearing  tlie  little 
story  again,  although  I  knew  every  syllable  and  com- 
ma in  it.  However,  I  did  not  say  a  word,  and  waited 
anxiously  for  Leuenfels  to  express  an  opinion  ;  but  he 
said  nothing.  "  Now  then  !  "  I  said  at  last  and  a  little 
impatiently. 

Leuenfels  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  said,  with  a 
critical  air  :  "  Is  that  all  ?  How  can  any  one  think  of 
writing  about  such  commonplace  things?" — "But 
she's  managed  it  very  nicely,"  I  ventured  to  remark  ; 
"  or  are  there  faults  in  it  ?  " — "  There  is  absolutely  noth- 
ing whatever  in  it,"  he  exclaimed,  "  no  proposition,  no 
periphery,  no  proper  rounding  off,  and  above  all  not  a 
vestige  of  poetry.  Where  is  the  Christmas  angel,  with 
its  poetic,  white  gleaming  wings  ;  where  are  the  church 
bells,  with  their  harmonious  music  ;  where  is  there  any- 
thing about  faith,  hope,  and  charity  ?  And  what  I  con- 
sider most  unpardonable  is  her  imitation  of  Andersen 
and  those  other  scribblers  of  fairy  tales.  My  advice 
to  you,  Fraulein  Buchholz,  is  to  give  up  any  further 
attempts  at  writing  ;  you  have  talent,  certainly,  but  of 
genius  not  a  spark  !  " 

During  this  downpour  of  abuse  I  felt  as  if  dust  were 
being  flung  at  me  all  round,  especially  in  my  face. 
Betti  sat  there  looking  utterly  petrified,  and  did  not 
venture  to  stir,  she  felt  so  ashamed  and  disgraced,  for 
Leuenfels  was  right ;  her  story  did  not  contain  any 
one  of  the  things  he  had  specified.  I,  myself,  could 
now  scarcely  imagine  how  it  was  that  we  had  all  en- 
joyed the  story  so  much,  and  that  Carl  had  maintained 
that  Betti  might  be  uncommunicative,  but  that  she 
had  depth  of  feeling  ;  how  utterly  mistaken,  too,  I 
had  been  in  supposing  that  Betti  might  yet  find  happi- 


True  Genius  has  no  Limitations.  139 

ness,  and  a  kind  of  profession,  in  literary  work,  since 
it  liad  become  evident  that  she  had  no  inclination  for 
becoming  a  governess,  or  for  stud3'ing  music  or  paint- 
ing. An  owl — as  I  may  say — had  clearly  been  sitting 
in  our  midst. 

Betti  did  not  venture  to  make  a  remark  ;  she  is  not 
apt  to  give  in  readily,  so  I  had  to  risk  a  speech.  "  Herr 
Leuenfels,"  I  began,  "as  her  story  does  not  appear 
good  enough  for  you,  I  should  like  you  to  tell  me 
what  you  consider  true  poetic  style  ;  it  is  well  that  one 
should  know  the  difference." — ''  Nothing  is  easier  than 
that,"  he  replied.  "  There  are  two  poems  of  mine 
published  in  the  '  Eolian  Harp,'  the  editor  of  which — 
Hunold  MuUer  von  der  Havel — himself  requested  me 
to  become  a  member  of  the  National  German  Rhym- 
ing Society.  And  I  have  become  a  member.  My  last 
poem  carried  off  the  prize-  Do  I  need  to  say  more.^" 
— "  Oh  no,  certainly  not." — "  I  composed  it  in  the  Win- 
ter Garden  at  the  time  of  the  Press  Festival.  True 
genius  is  not  bound  by  time  or  place.  Let  me  recite 
it  to  you." 

With  this  he  leant  against  the  stove,  pulled  out  his 
cuffs,  pushed  back  his  hair,  put  on  a  look  like  apple 
jelly,  and  then  commenced  : 

A  SORROWFUL  SEPARATION. 
i^Prize poem  by  Feodor  Wichmait7i-Leueii/eIs.) 

"A  palm-tree  in  the  far-off  north, 
In  a  lone  green-house  is  standing-. 
How  very  much  hath  clianged  its  worth  ! 
Its  leaves  are  now  all  vanishing. 

"  It  dreams  long  dreams  of  a  pine-tree, 
On  the  distant  Congo-strand  ; 
Yet  long  has  that  tree  ceased  to  be 
On  the  desert's  fieiy  brand." 


140  Fran  Buchholcs  Blood  Boils. 

"  Now  just  listen  to  that,"  I  exclaimed,  when  he  had 
ended  in  a  doleful  tone  ;  "grand  the  poem  cannot  be 
called,  and  neither  can  I  call  it  new." — "  Not  new  ! 
An  improvisation  of  mine  on  that  evening,  not  new  !  " 
— "  No,  new  it  is  not,"  said  I.  "  Betti,  you  surely  re- 
member Heine's  poem  about  a  dreaming  pine-tree. 
Isn't  it  almost  exactly  like  this  one  of  Herr  Leuen- 
fels'?" — "There's  not  the  smallest  resemblance!"  he 
exclaimed  in  an  offended  tone.  "In  the  wretched  pro- 
duction you  refer  to,  the  pine-tree  stands  in  the  north,  in 
my  poem  it  is  the  palm-tree,  and  you  call  that  the  same  ? 
Ridiculous  !  Those  who  do  not  possess  sufficient 
knowledge  ought  not  to  presume  to  pass  judgment." 

This  made  my  blood  boil  up.  "  You  say  that  my 
Betti  has  borrowed  from  others,  while  you  yourself 
crib  things  in  such  a  way  that  one  might  fancy  the 
police  must  be  at  the  door.  And  yet  you  talk  about 
genius  and  pathology,  and  goodness  knows  all  what 
other  ologies  !  That's  more  than  I'll  put  up  with  in 
my  house  !  So  do  me  the  favour  to  see  if  your  great- 
coat is  in  the  hall  ;  if  it  is,  take  it  out  for  an  airing, 
that  the  moths  don't  get  into  it.  I  should  think  you'd 
drop  writing  poetry  now,  once  and  for  ever  !  " — "  If  my 
poetry  is  to  be  thus  scorned,  I  shall  let  people  know 
what  I  can  do.  If  they  will  not  honour  me  as  a  poet, 
they  shall  learn  to  fear  me  as  a  critic.  Now  I  recog- 
nise my  destination  in  life,  and  it  is  to  you,  Frau  Buch- 
holz,  that  I  owe  this  discovery."  With  this  he  made  a 
formal  bow,  and  walked  out  haughtily. 

Ho\v  right  Uncle  Fritz  was  after  all  ;  if  the  words 
"  patent  humbug  "  had  not  been  invented  already,  they 
would  have  had  to  be  specially  invented  for  that  idiot. 
And  to  think  that  it  was  Dr.  Stinde  who  packed  him  on 
to  my  shoulders.  Just  you  v/ait,  my  boy,  I'll  pick  a  crow 
with  you  yet ! 


Carrying  Burdens.  14 1 

The  result  of  all  this  was  that  Betti  no  longer  found 
any  pleasure  in  writing,  and  that  the  world  was  one 
critic  the  richer  ;  I  do  not  exactly  wish  Leuenfels  to 
run  his  head  against  a  wall,  but  God  grant  he  may  ! 
Had  it  not  been  for  his  insolence,  Betti  might  have  in- 
nocently continued  her  literary  pursuits,  and  her  work 
would  have  kept  off  wearisome  thoughts  about  her 
lost  happiness  !  She  would  have  found  distraction 
without  seeking  it  far  from  home,  at  the  theatre  or  at 
concerts.  We  very  rarely  go  there,  for  it  is  a  most  ex- 
pensive kind  of  pleasure  when  other  folks  have  to  show 
one  how  to  be  pleased,  and  we  do  not  care  to  throw 
away  our  money  in  that  fashion.  If  once  in  a  way  we 
go  to  the  opera-house  to  hear  "  Lohengrin,"  or  to  the 
theatre,  those  are  eventful  evenings,  long  to  be  remem- 
bered. At  times,  too,  we  go  to  the  Wallner  theatre 
when  something  really  funny  is  being  acted  ;  but,  as  a 
rule,  those  operettas  are  too  shocking. 

Things  therefore  went  on  much  in  the  old  way,  and 
as  Mila,  too,  was  away,  there  were  hours  during  the 
day  that  seemed  as  heavy  as  lead.  However,  when 
there's  nothing  to  alter,  there's  nothing  to  will,  and 
we  both  of  us  had  to  bear  the  same  burden,  Betti  on 
her  young  shoulders,  and  I  on  my  old  ones,  and  neither 
of  us  cared  to  admit  which  found  it  hardest  to  bear. 

My  thoughts  were  occupied  also  with  the  mysterious 
remarks  Herr  Max  had  made  to  us  on  the  day  of  the 
regatta,  and  I  do  not  know  what  I  would  not  have 
given  to  have  got  to  the  bottom  of  that  subject.  How- 
ever, I  asked  m3'self  b}''  way  of  consolation.  Does 
human  life  always  flow  on  in  a  stream  as  clear  as 
crystal  ?  No,  indeed,  it  is  more  generally  as  muddy  as 
ditch-water. 

The  day  of  revelation  came  at  last,  however,  in  the 
form  of  a  letter  from   Herr  Max,  who  asked  me  to 


142  Interview  ivilJi  Herr  Max. 

grant  h'im  an  interview.  I  appointed  the  following 
Friday,  as  Belti  was  to  be  at  the  Kuleckes,  and  I  re- 
ceived him  punctually  at  six  o'clock  in  the  best  sitting- 
room.  "  Now,  pray  do  not  make  a  long  preface,"  said 
I,  after  having  placed  some  port  wine  before  him,  by 
way  of  rousing  his  spirits,  for  he  made  upon  me  the 
impression  of  being  somewhat  nervous.  "  You  can 
speak  out  plainly  without  beating  about  the  bush,  I 
am  prepared  for  the  worst." — "  I  have  come  with  good 
news,  I  hope,"  he  replied.  "  Then  let  us  have  it  with- 
out more  ado."— "As  I  have  come  as  spokesman  for 
my  friend  Felix,  I  must  enter  a  little  more  into  detail 
than  you  may  perhaps  like." — "  Do  as  you  wish  then, 
but  take  a  little  wine  first." — He  took  a  sip  and  then 
continued:  "  You  got  to  know  him — " — "And  to  be 
deceived  in  him  !  Never  shall  I  forget  seeing  him  in 
the  fresh  courage  of  youth  and  with  quick  determina- 
tion risk  his  own  life  to  save  that  boy's.  I  admired 
him  then,  and  his  modest  and  yet  manly  character 
upon  closer  acquaintance  won  my  whole  heart,  and 
not  mine  alone,  and  that's  what  was  wrong  in  him. 
He  knew  what  he  had  done,  you  knew  it  too,  and  after 
rejoicing  in  having  deceived  an  innocent  girl's  heart, 
he  vanished,  never  to  appear  again.  That's  what's 
false  in  him,  and  that's  my  opinion  of  him  now." 

Herr  Max  replied  with  animation  :  "  I  can  justify 
his  behaviour." — "  I  cannot  believe  that." — "  I  think 
you  will  believe  what  I,  his  friend,  have  to  say  for 
him." — "Tell  me  with  whom  thou  goest,  and  I  will 
tell  thee  who  thou  art,"  I  observed  distrustfully.  Herr 
Max  clenched  his  teeth  firmly,  and  looked  at  me  almost 
angrily.  "  You  wrong  him  !  "  he  burst  out ;  "  I  have 
known  him  from  my  early  school-da3'S.  He  was  strong 
and  powerful,  and  protected  me,  the  weak  boy,  from 
persecution  ;    he  looked    after  me    when   I    lost    my 


Wilhclinine  on  Recreation.  143 

parents  ;  I  owe  everything  to  him.  There  is  not  a 
truer  nature  than  his,  and  that  is  why  everything  tiiat 
affects  him  affects  me.  How  my  heart  rejoiced  when 
he  told  me  he  had  found  the  joy  of  his  life  !  And  he 
himself  cannot  have  suffered  more  than  I  did,  when  he 
told  me  that  it  had  all  to  come  to  an  end." 

"  Had  to  ?  "  I  asked  in  astonishment. 

Max  was  silent  for  a  time,  and  then  added  in  a  low 
voice  :  "  We  had  both  of  us  only  been  in  Berlin  a  year 
or  two  ;  our  week-days  were  devoted  to  work,  and  on 
Sundays  the  large  city  with  its  environs  offered 
recreation  in  abundance.  Can  you  find  fault  with 
young  men,  who  are  full  of  life  and  good  spirits,  for 
taking  part  in  the  amusements  that  are  offered?" — 
"  I  see  no  reason  whatever  why  they  should  not  enjoy 
themselves  ;  but  would,  nevertheless,  not  have  them 
follow  the  crooked  paths  that  Herr  Kleines  does." — 
"  I  do  not  understand  !  " — "  Who  gives  parties  for 
lady-cousins  that  are  no  cousins  at  all."  Herr  M.ix 
cast  down  his  eyes,  and  remained  silent.  "  Well,  are 
you  not  going  to  speak  ?  "  I  asked  in  dismay. — "  He 
met  her  first  out  at  Treptow  and  danced  with  her 
.  .  .  " — "  What  '  her  '  ?  " — "  His  ruin." — ''  Now  I  know 
enough,"  I  replied  bitterly  ;  "you  need  say  no  more." 
— "  I  must,"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  you  must  hear  all  I  have 
to  say.  The  day  we  returned  from  Tegel,  where  we 
met  you  and  your  daughter,  Felix  said  to  me  :  '  Max, 
from  this  day  henceforth  I  break  with  the  past '  .  .  .  " 
— "  That  he  may  have  said,  but  he  didn't  do  it." — "  He 
did  his  best  to  break  off  the  connection,  but  she  would 
not  let  him.  She  threatened,  if  ever  he  became  en- 
gaged to  any  girl,  to  come  forward  and  make  some 
•  claim  against  him." — "  Had  she  any  right  to  do  so  ?  " 
— "  No,  and  Felix  laughed  at  her  threats,  but  she  vowed 
she'd  create  the  greatest  disturbance  possible,  on  his 


144  W/ia^  Berlin  makes  of  Mankind. 

wedding-day,  even  though  it  should  be  inside  the 
church.  She  declared  she  would  swear  that  he  had 
promised  to  marry  her,  and  added,  that  no  one  would 
be  able  to  prove  the  contrary.  He  asked  her  whether 
she  meant  to  ruin  his  whole  life  ;  whereupon  she  re- 
plied that  she  belonged  to  a  respectable  family,  and 
did  not  mean  to  be  pushed  aside  by  any  one,  and  that 
in  her  hatred  she  was  capable  of  anything,  he  had 
better  remember  that.  This  vv^as  why  he  avoided  any 
further  meetings  with  Fraulein  Buchholz,  whom  he 
loved  with  his  whole  soul  ;  he  was  afraid  that  words 
he  dared  not  utter  might  escape  his  lips,  words  that 
might  draw  her  to  him  and  expose  her  to  annoyance. 
The  only  thing  he  could  do  was  to  leave  Berlin." — 
"But  first  get  as  much  amusement  out  of  it  as  he 
could  !  Do  you  mean  me  to  believe  that  the  Bock 
music-hall  is  a  place  for  persons  with  broken  hearts  ?  " 
He  looked  at  me  in  amazement,  while  I  continued  : 
"  Well,  you  may  think  what  you  like,  but  I  saw  him 
there  myself,  and  moreover  in  very  strange  company, 
I  had  time  enough  to  notice  that  !  " — "  He  had  reason 
for  acting  as  he  did.  His  object  was  to  get  that  young 
woman  off  the  right  scent ;  after  that  evening  she 
ceased  following  him  about  any  longer." — "  Berlin, 
Berlin  !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  is  this  what  you  make  of  man- 
kind !  And  Herr  Max,  is  this  what  you  call  good 
news  ?     Truly,  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  I  " — 

"  I  have  good  news,  certainly,"  he  replied  calmly; 
"  the  troubles  that  have  kept  Felix  away  are  now  all 
at  an  end  ;  yesterday  that  acquaintance  of  his  married 
an  artizan  in  a  good  position,  and  Felix  commissioned 
me  to  tell  you  all  that  had  happened,  so  that  you  might 
not  misunderstand  him." 

I  said  nothing.  Could  I  declare  him  free  from 
blame  ?     No.     And  yet  I  felt  he  had   not  acted  dis- 


On  Lost  Love.  145 

honourably  towards  us.  He  did  not  press  himself 
upon  us  ;  it  was  I  that  encouraged  him;  he  had  never 
spoken  to  Betti  of  love,  had  never  promised  her  any- 
thing, or  asked  any  promise  from  her.  Of  that  I  was 
convinced.  And  3'et  in  both  their  hearts  there  had 
quietl)  and  secretly  bloomed  hopes  that  had  as  secretly 
and  quietly  withered — destroyed  by  the  levity  of 
Sunday  amusements. 

"  Has  Felix  acted  so  very  badly,  that  you  have  no 
word  of  pardon  for  him  ?  "  asked  Herr  Max. — ''  Of 
what  good  would  my  pardon  be  to  him  ?"  I  replied.  — 
"  It  would  be  everything  to  him,  it  would  enable  him 
to  hope  that  he  might  again  present  himself  at  your 
house." — "  It  is  too  late  now,  Betti  has  resigned  her- 
self to  her  fate,  and  lost  love  is  not  apt  to  return." 

Herr  Max  rose  hurriedly:  '"I  cannot  and  will  not 
tell  him  that,"  he  said  excitedly  ;  "  he  hopes  for  a  kind 
message.  He  must  have  it." — Herr  Max  spoke  so 
warmly  and  feelingly  for  his  friend  that  I  could  not 
but  be  affected  myself,  and  therefore  said  :  "  I  cannot 
decide  this  matter  alone,  others  have  a  word  to  say  as 
well,"  and  with  this  I  rang  the  bell,  and  sent  Doris 
down  to  Carl,  who  was  in  the  office,  to  ask  him  to  come 
up  to  me.  He  came  at  once,  and  when  he  saw  Herr 
Max,  greeted  him  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  and  said: 
*'  Well,  and  how  do  matters  stand  now,  my  young 
friend?" — "The  marriage  took  place  the  day  before 
yesterday,"  was  his  answer. — "  Now,  Carl,  how's  this  ?  " 
I  exclaimed  astonished  ;  "  how  is  it  that  you  know  about 
all  this?" — "Herr  Felix  Schmidt  was  honest  enough 
to  tell  me  the  circumstances  that  compelled  him  to 
leave  Berlin  ;  and  I  could  only  approve  of  his  actions." 
— "And  me — you  have  kept  all  this  from  me  ?  Carl,  I 
do  think  ....  " — "  Now,  Wilhelmine,  do  me  the 
favour  and  look  up  at  your  portrait  for  a  minute  ! 
10 


146  Wilhchnine  Acquiesces. 

Why  should  you  have  been  worried  about  the  matter 
unnecessarily  ?  I  myself  had  begun  to  doubt  whether 
things  could  ever  come  right,  and  therefore  considered 
it  better  not  to  recall  the  past.  The  question  now  is 
whether  Betti  has  forgotten  him  or  not?" — "She 
doesn't  seem  to  think  of  him  at  all  !  " — "  Yet  it  may 
only  seem  so,"  interposed  Herr  Max.  "  Well,  1  will 
try  and  find  out ;  still,  I  do  not  think  there  will  be 
much  use  now  ;  as  soon  as  she  hears  all  the  particulars, 
she  will  draw  back.  She  has  her  pride."  Whereupon 
my  Carl  replied:  "When  the  time  comes,  he  will  tell 
her  all  himself.  We  have  no  right  to  abuse  the  con- 
fidence he  has  placed  in  us.  He  has  repented  and 
atoned  for  his  folly,  by  having  had  to  conceal  his  love 
for  her.  Can  you  ask  more  ?  He  who  is  without  sin 
let  him  cast  the  first  stone  !  " — "  Carl,  I  hope  you'll  be 
able  to  cast  the  stone  yourself."  He  laughed,  and 
said  :  "  My  wife  has  already  given  in,  I  see  ;  come  and 
fetch  your  answer  to-morrow,  Plerr  Max." — "  Do  not 
come  yourself,  that  might  strike  Betti  as  peculiar," 
I  urged  ;  "  if  things  look  promising,  I  will  put  this  red 
hyacinth  on  the  ledge  between  the  windows." — 
"  Thank  you,"  replied  Herr  Max  ;  "  I  will  pass  your 
house  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  and  will  look  up." 
Thereupon  he  took  leave  of  us  and  went  away.  I  could 
not  help  thinking  that  any  one  who  had  so  devoted  a 
friend  could  not  possibly  be  a  bad  man.  If  onh'  youth 
were  not  so  overflowing  with  spirit  and  thoughtless- 
ness !  Yet,  perhaps,  were  it  not  so,  that  little  boy 
would  be  lying  dead  in  his  grave. 

I  could  not  help  letting  Carl  know  a  little  what 
I  thought  of  his  egoistical  silence,  but  my  words 
seemed  as  good  as  thrown  away  upon  him,  the  future 
seemed  all  so  rosy-coloured  to  him  now.  He  wanted 
to  have  Felix  Schmidt  as  a   partner,  and  would  not 


Bctti  in  Good  Spirits.  \,\j 

think  of  anything  else.  "  I  should  have  such  a  sup- 
port in  him,  Minchen,  for  he  understands  the  manu- 
factures. Away  in  Saxony,  where  he  now  is,  they 
want  him  to  become  a  partner." — "  How  do  you  know 
that?" — "The  firm  applied  to  me  about  him.  as  he 
had  referred  them  to  me." — "And  what  did  you  say?" 
— "  First  and  foremost,  that  he  was  an  upright  man, 
and  that  I  should  place  full  confidence  in  him  myself." 

After  supper,  Carl  went  out  a  little  for  a  glass  of 
beer,  and  I  waited  for  Betti,  who  came  in  at  the  usual 
hour.  She  was  in  very  good  spirits,  for  she  had  read 
her  little  story  to  the  Kuleckes — as  had  been  arranged 
—  and  they  had  all  spoken  favourably  of  it,  especially 
Amanda,  and  so  Betti  meant  again  to  try  her  hand  at 
writing,  in  spite  of  Leuenfels.  Amanda  had,  it  is  true, 
said  to  her:  "Betti,  a  story  must  have  something 
about  love  in  it,  no  matter  whether  it  ends  happily 
or  unhappily,  but  of  love  there  must  be  something." 
— "Well,  Betti,  won't  you  try?"  said  I,  by  way  of  re- 
connoitring, and  I  felt  my  heart  beginning  to  beat 
faster. — "Am  I  to  write  about  happiness  and  love 
with  tears  in  my  own  eyes,  Mamma,"  she  replied  sor- 
rowfully.—"  You  might,"  I  added,  continuing  my  own 
train  of  thought,  while  my  heart  beat  faster  and  faster; 
"you  might  describe  two  young  people  loving  one 
another  without  acknowledging  it  ;  make  the  lover 
go  far  away  to  earn  a  livelihood,  or  something  of  the 
sort,  meaning  to  return  when  he  had  made  enough, 
but  finds  then  that  the  girl  has  meanwhile  forgotten 
him." 

"Forgotten  him!"  exclaimed  Betti,  looking  at  me 
in  astonishment ;  "  then  she  could  never  have  really 
loved  him." 

"Then  do  you  love  him  still?  And  do  yon  know 
why  he  went  away?"  I  blurted  out  thoughtlessly.    At 


148  TJic  Red  Hyacinth. 

that  moment  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  would  have  done 
mc  good,  for  I  felt 'sure  that  Betti  would  be  upset. 
However,  she  remained  quite  composed,  and  said,  in 
a  scarcely  audible  voice  : 

"  Perhaps  he  thought  me  unworthy  of  further 
notice." 

My  hands  were  clutching  tightly  hold  of  the  sofa, 
for,  indeed,  I  needed  support;  gradually  I  loosened 
my  hold,  and  drew  a  breath  :  "  Betti,"  I  said,  "  be 
good  enough  to  put  that  red  hyacinth  in  between  the 
windows,  its  scent  is  too  strong  for  me." 

Betti  did  as  I  asked  her;  and  now  I  knew  that  she 
would  forget  and  forgive,  whatever  she  might  hear, 
and  I  also  saw  how  right  Carl  had  been  in  keeping 
the  matter  quiet,  for  how  easily  one  finds  oneself  off 
at  a  gallop. 

"  Have  you  had  visitors.  Mamma,  that  you  are  sit- 
ting here  in  the  best  room  ?"  asked  Betti. 

"  A  business  friend  of  papa's  has  been  here,"  said  I, 
with  as  much  indifference  as  possible. 

And  then  we  talked  of  all  sorts  of  things  that  weren't 
specially  interesting  to  either  of  us  ;  Betti  avoided 
talking  about  her  literary  work,  and  I  took  care  not 
to  let  anything  further  escape  me.  At  last  sleep 
sprinkled  its  dream-dust  in  our  eyes,  and  we  went  to 
bed.  The  red  hyacinth,  of  course,  was  in  its  proper 
place. 


THE    FIRST  OF  APRIL. 

I  WAS  not  aware  that  I  had  in  any  way  offended 
Augusta  Weigelt,  and  could  not  understand,  therefore, 
why  she  avoided  our  house  as  if  we  had  had  scarlet 
fever.    It  vexed  me  ;  so,  a  short  time  ago,  when  I  met 


Augusta  acts  strangely.  149 

her  accidentally,  I  put  the  question  as  to  why  she 
never  came  to  see  us  now,  upon  which  she  made  a 
number  of  excuses,  as  if  she  had  been  practising  the 
art  of  lying.  "  If  you  don't  care  to  come,  I  can't  force 
you,"  was  my  reply;  "and  if  you  have  ceased  to  care 
about  us,  why,  we  had  better  begin  to  address  each 
other  more  formally.  So  '  Good-bye  '  to  you,  Frau 
Weigelt." 

How  matters  really  stood  with  the  Weigelts  I  could 
not  make  out ;  nor  whether  they  had  received  the  ex- 
pected shovelful  of  sovereigns  from  their  wealthy 
sister-in-law,  or  whether  a  debtor's  hawk  had  taken 
up  its  abode  on  their  roof,  as  Uncle  Fritz  says  when 
there  are  bills  that  have  to  be  paid  for  dear  life's  sake, 
and  there  is  nothing  but  wishes  to  pay  them  with. 

To  my  subsequent  joy,  however,  I  found  that  I  had 
been  wrong  about  Augusta.  She  herself  was  not  to 
blame  for  the  coolness  that  had  sprung  up  between 
us,  it  was  altogether  the  fault  of  her  husband,  who 
did  not  deserve  to  have  so  good  a  wife.  Who  would 
have  thought  that  that  simpleton  of  a  student,  as  he 
used  to  be — and  who  ought  to  be  thankful  that  he 
obtained  an  appointment  in  a  Government  office — 
could  have  become  so  uppish.  The  reason  is  simply 
his  dunderheadedness,  although  it  nevertheless  seems 
inexplicable. 

It  had  seemed  very  strange  that  he  should  have 
forbidden  Augusta  to  accept  money  from  us,  but  I 
ascribed  this  behaviour  of  his  to  my  having  at  first 
refused  to  give  them  what  they  wanted,  when  she  ap- 
plied to  me  ;  some  people  cannot  stand  being  denied 
anything.  However,  Uncle  Fritz  discovered  what  was 
the  true  stite  of  matters. 

Young  Weigelt  had,  in  fact,  got  among  a  set  of  fel- 
lows who  fumed  away  to  him  about  the  evils  of  the 


150  Young  Wcigclt  on  the  High  Horse. 

present  state  of  society;  and  they  succeeded  in  rous- 
ing him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  believed  anything, 
so  long  as  it  wasn't  to  be  found  in  the  Bible.  He 
owed  debts  that  he  would  gladly  have  been  quit  of, 
and  simply  because  things  had  gone  badly  with  him, 
owing  to  his  own  stupidity,  he  now  fancied  the  whole 
world  must  be  in  a  bad  way  too.  The  State,  he  said, 
was  of  no  earthly  use,  and  Government  made  mistake 
upon  mistake;  goodness  knows  with  what  else  besides 
they  may  have  talked  their  beer  sour. 

The  consequence  of  all  this  was  that  young  Weigelt 
became  careless  in  his  work,  and  disliked  by  his  su- 
periors, and  thus  spoke  of  starting  business  on  his 
own  account,  meaning,  as  he  said,  to  upturn  the  State 
altogether  ;  yet  a  Prussian  Government  office  cannot 
be  said  to  be  the  most  appropriate  place  for  such  en- 
deavours. Did  he  really  imagine  that  he  had  got  his 
appointment  because  of  his  beautiful  eyes?  Young 
men  like  him  could  be  had  in  plenty — fifteen  to  the 
bushel.  He  might  be  glad  he  was  not  turned  out  of 
the  office  ;  in  fact,  that  his  wife  and  child  had  been 
taken  into  consideration,  when  he  was  on  the  point 
of  getting  his  conge.  And  yet  he  set  himself  on  the  high 
horse,  when  others  were  given  posts  ahead  of  him, 
and  he  had  to  wait  for  another  chance. 

Every  one  may  be  said  to  be  the  maker  of  his  own 
good  fortune  ;  but  any  one  who  has  not  learned  his 
business  properly,  can  accomplish  nothing  but  mere 
bungling,  and  this  was  the  case  with  young  Weigelt. 

"  If  our  State  isn't  to  his  liking,"  said  Uncle  Fritz, 
"he's  at  liberty  to  go  and  find  one  that  is.  But  it 
seems  to  me  he  knows  that  he's  not  likely  to  find  meat 
anywhere  without  bones,  and  that  oxen  don't  run 
about  in  America  as  ready-made  sausages  ;  and  that 
if  we  have  to  work  here,  they  have  to  shift  for  them- 


I'^rcaks  of  Xatiirc.  1 5  i 

selves  over  yonder.  Let  him  emigrate  with  his  little 
bit  of  learning,  and  his  legible  handwriting.  He'll 
be  able  to  suck  his  thumbs  !  It  might  be  the  best 
thing  for  him  to  go  abroad,  to  learn  what  bosh  has 
been  talked  into  him  by  those  soft-brained  idiots  who 
call  themselves  his  political  friends.  To  think  of  that 
nincompoop — who  can't  manage  his  own  affairs,  who 
has  to  put  himself  into  the  hands  of  money-lenders, 
and  has  to  take  useless  goods  from  a  swindler — *,u 
think  of  him  presuming  to  talk  politics  !  He  wants 
to  govern,  does  he?  He  teach  the  State  wisdom — a 
blockhead  like  him  !  " 

•  "Why  do  3'ou  vex  yourself  so  about  him  ? "  said  I  to 
Uncle  Fritz;  "he's  too  insignificant  a  creature  to 
make  one  angry." 

"  I've  just  been  to  ask  him  to  join  in  the  torchlight 
procession,  and  to  come  and  spend  the  evening  with 
me  and  my  friends  afterwards.  His  reply  was  that 
such  proceedings  were  against  his  principles." — "  Is  it 
possible?"  I  exclaimed. — "Yes,  indeed,"  said  Uncle 
Fritz,  "but  truly  the  freaks  of  nature  are  marvellous 
sometimes." 

This  happened  a  few  days  before  the  last  of  March, 
when  the  torchlight  procession  was  being  arranged  in 
honour  of  Prince  Bismarck,  which  was  to  take  place  on 
the  evening  before  his  70th  birthday.  We  heard  a 
great  deal  about  the  preparations  long  beforehand, 
and  were  looking  forward  to  the  evening  with  the 
greatest  delight,  especially  as  Uncle  Fritz  was  so  en- 
thusiastic about  it.  But  then,  to  be  sure,  Fritz  had 
served  during  the  campaign  in  France,  and  knew 
what  it  meant  to  risk  life  and  limb  for  one's  country. 
"  Wilheim,"  he  said  to  me  one  day,  "  not  a  drop  of 
blood  has  been  shed  in  vain,  every  drop  has  brought 
honour  and   power  to  our  country.     None  can  equal 


152  TJie   TorcJilJgJit  Pi'occssion 

us  now  !  Germany  is  greater  than  she  has  ever  been 
before,  and  this  we  owe  to  our  Emperor  and  to  his 
Chancellor." 

On  the  evening  of  the  torchlight  procession  we  went 
to  the  Linden  in  good  time.  Carl,  Betti  and  I,  and 
half  Berlin  seemed  to  have  assembled  on  that  broad, 
open  space.  Head  upon  head  might  be  seen  at  every 
window  and  on  the  balconies,  and  numberless  people 
had  taken  their  stand  on  the  road,  the  riding-path, 
and  on  the  pavements.  Every  one  of  these  persons 
needs  a  means  of  existence,  and  can  obtain  it  only  in 
times  of  peace,  and  this  is  what  Bismarck  has  man- 
aged to  obtain  for  us,  and  will  see  that  we  have  it  in 
days  to  come  as  well. 

"  Let  us  try  and  get  to  our  old  place  again,  close  to 
the  Friedrich  Strasse,"  said  Carl.  When  we  had  got 
there,  he  said  to  me  :  "  Wilhelmine,  do  you  remember 
our  standing  here  to  see  the  King  when  he  came  from 
Ems  ?  The  Queen,  who  was  at  his  side,  could  scarcely 
restrain  her  tears."—"  I  remember  it  well,  Carl  ;  what 
terrible  days  those  were.  Uncle  Fritz  had  to  be  off 
with  the  rest.  The  French  were  considered  the  first 
and  foremost  among  nations,  and  they  vowed  and 
vaunted  they  would  raze  Berlin  to  the  ground.  Who 
could  say  how  things  would  go  ? " — "  The  King,  and 
Bismarck,  and  Moltke  knew  though.  And  do  you  re- 
member that  we  stood  here  again  when  our  King 
entered  the  city  with  his  victorious  army  as  an  Em- 
peror ? " — '•  How  can  I  ever  forget  that  ?  What  a  day 
of  rejoicing  it  was.  And  what  a  sight  Uncle  Fritz 
was  to  look  at,  covered  with  dust  and  bedecked  with 
wreaths  !  " — "Well,  to-day's  procession  is  a  solemn  of- 
fering of  thanks  to  the  mighty  Chancellor  for  his  fidel- 
ity to  his  Emperor  and  to  Germany.  But  look  over 
there  towards  the  Pah  c:  ;  the  procession  has  started." 


in  honour  of  Prince  Bismarck.  153 

And  so  it  had.  A  cloud  of  smoke  could  be  seen  at 
Liie  lower  end  of  the  Linden,  a  red  light  was  glowing 
in  its  midst  like  a  fire,  and  this  became  larger  and 
larger,  till  it  got  to  look  like  a  huge  fiery  serpent 
creeping  nearer  and  nearer,  and  at  last  reached  the 
point  where  we  were  standing.  Bands  of  musicians 
dressed  in  historical  costumes,  on  foot  and  on  horse- 
back, alternated  with  groups  of  men  candying  torches, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  various  corps  of  stu- 
dents, all  in  full  toggery,  occupied  endless  carriages, 
and  were  followed  by  the  bulk  of  the  students  on  foot, 
all  of  them  young  men,  the  Chancellor's  hope  for  the 
future  and  the  inheritors  of  his  legacy.  In  front  of  the 
students  w^alked  a  grey-headed  man  carrying  a  bright 
torch  ;  he  was  wearing  a  student's  cap  in  black,  red 
and  gold,  the  colours  of  the  olden  days.  His  heart 
must  have  preserved  the  freshness  of  youth,  and  been 
full  of  enthusiasm  to-day. 

Endless  masses  of  persons  carrying  flaming  brands, 
illuminated  inscriptions,  banners,  flags,  and  badges, 
kept  passing  by.  Then  came  the  artist's  chariot,  in 
the  form  of  a  gigantic  ship,  bearing  Germania  wield- 
ing her  uplifted  and  protecting  sword,  while  on  the 
deck  of  the  ship  stood  representatives  of  every  dis- 
trict and  province  of  the  Empire,  who  greeted  her 
with  shouts  of  rejoicing.  Then  came  flie  ambassadors 
from  Cameroon,  with  camels  carrying  gifts  such  as 
Africa  has  to  offer  ;  and  they  again  were  followed  by 
endless  lines  of  persons  on  foot  with  flaming  torches 
in  their  upraised  hands. 

An  hour  had  passed,  but  still  there  was  no  sign  of 
the  procession  coming  to  an  end.  Thousands  of  spec- 
tators stood  there,  deeply  affected,  and  overpowered 
by  the  marvellous  scene.  The  procession  ended  by 
all  the  men  from  Schcring's  manufactory  coming  up 


154  TJic  German  Empire, 

with  their  hundreds  of  magnesium  lights,  which  made 
the  streets  look  brighter  even  than  by  daylight  ;  and 
scarcely  any  one  at  that  moment  but  had  his  eyes 
moistened  with  tears.  It  was  with  deep  emotion  that 
the  people  paid  this  homage  to  their  mighty  states- 
man, their  Bismarck. 

Carl  did  not  feel  at  all  disposed  to  have  supper  at 
any  public  place  after  this  sight.  "  Let  us  celebrate 
the  evening  by  ourselves,"  he  said  ;  "  I  shall  like  talk- 
ing over  all  the  glorious  past  among  ourselves." 

So  we  made  ourselves  comfortable  at  home,  and 
when  I  appeared  with  a  bottle  of  good  "Johannis- 
garten,"  Carl  declared  it  to  be  a  very  happy  thought 
of  mine.  He  went  out,  but  came  back  soon  with  a 
little  book  called  "  Prince  Bismarck,"  by  Ernest  Scher- 
enberg,  which  he  afterwards  read  aloud  to  us. 

It  seemed  to  me  and  Betti  inconceivable  that  Ger- 
many could  ever  have  been  so  shamefully  treated  in 
former  daj's.  It  had  silently  to  endure  seeing  its 
rights  and  its  honour  violated,  merely  because,  in  its 
dilapidation,  it  did  not  know  its  own  strength.  But 
now,  thank  God,  we're  all  in  one  box. 

Then,  came  the  day  in  Versailles  when  the  Chancel- 
lor read  out  the  Emperor's  proclamation,  which  con- 
cluded with  the  vvords  :  *'  We  and  our  successors  to 
the  Imperial  Crown  do  pray  that  God  may  enable  us 
to  be  the  promoters  of  the  German  empire — not  by 
warlike  conquests,  but  by  the  rewards  and  gifts  of 
peace,  in  connection  with  the  nation's  welfare,  free- 
dom, and  culture." 

"  Those  were  the  Emperor's  words,"  said  Carl,  "and 
Bismarck  will  see  that  they  are  fulfilled.  For  fifteen 
years  now  we  have  enjoyed  peace  and  all  its  blessings, 
and  this  we  owe  to  German  trustworthiness." 

At  these  words  we  all  three  rose  from  our  seats  and 


and  Frayicc  ivitJi  her  Republic.  155 

emptied  our  glasses.  Whose  health  we  drank  need 
hardly  be  said. 

*'Novv,  do  you  see,"  said  Carl,  returning  to  the  sub- 
ject again  with  animation — "  France,  with  her  Repub- 
lic, is  again  offering  up  her  children  to  its  old  idol 
Gloire  j  England,  with  her  Parliament,  is  shedding 
inglorious  blood  to  its  egoism  ;  they  both  of  them 
now  appeal  to  us,  and  ask  Bismarck  to  decide  matters 
— Bismarck,  who  in  Versailles  swore  with  his  Em- 
peror, and  before  all  the  world,  that  there  should  be 
Peace  !  The  days  in  which  we  are  living  are  so  great, 
that  we  can  scarcely  comprehend  their  importance  ! 
The  young  people  of  our  day  are  growing  up  in  a  very 
different  Germany  from  what  I  knew  in  my  young 
days.  It  is  no  longer  the  poor  Fatherland  whose  sons 
grieved  over  it  the  more  deeply  the  more  they  loved 
it." — "  What  a  pity  we  have  none,"  I  exclaimed 
thoughtlessly. 

"We  shall  have  to  be  satisfied  with  sons-in-law," 
replied  Carl  jocosely. 

In  order  to  remove  the  impression  which  these  re- 
marks of  ours  might  have  upon  Betti,  I  endeavoured 
to  change  the  subject,  by  saying  : 

"  Daughters  would,  after  all,  have  acted  much  in  the 
same  way." 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  TO  BE  SO  DIFFERENT. 

I  HAD  not  exactly  forbidden  Carl  to  associate  with 
old  Herr  Bergfeldt,  for  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  me  to  have  seen  that  my  prohibition  was  attended 
to,  there  being  so  many  places  in  Berlin  where  they 
might  have  met  in  spite  of  everything  ;  an  excuse  to 
go  out  on  business  about  dinner-time  can,  of  course. 


156  On  Granimar  and  Culture. 

easily  be  manufactured,  and  restaurants  for  a  morning 
glass  of  beer  are  to  be  found  at  every  third  house  ; 
one  need  only  drop  against  the  door  to  find  oneself 
inside.  Then,  too,  old  Herr  Bergfeldt  was  far  less  to 
blame  for  all  the  disputes  than  was  that  wife  of  his, 
with  whom  nobody  can  get  on  for  any  length  of  time, 
for  if  she  hasn't  any  one  else  to  quarrel  with,  she'd 
take  to  quarrelling  with  herself. 

Why  is  it  that  I  can  live  in  harmony  with  other  peo- 
ple, and  she  cannot  ?  Because  any  one  wanting  to 
stigmatise  me  as  stupid  would  have  to  get  up  two 
days  before  me,  if  not  sooner.  And  then  the  way  she 
tries  to  look  down  upon  us  simply  because  the  hus- 
band of  the  one  has  an  official  appointment,  whereas 
the  other  is  only  a  merchant  ;  she  wants  also  to  make 
show  with  a  scanty  income,  and  has  to  be  as  sparing 
as  possible  with  her  coffee,  in  order  to  have  one  or  two 
pence  for  a  few  pleasures. 

Has  she  not  always,  when  invited  anywhere,  made 
great  pretensions,  and  acted  as  if  she  had  been  the 
chief  person  present  ?  And  when  she  didn't  manage 
to  get  what  she  expected,  off  she  would  go  into  the 
dumps,  and  all  pleasantness  would  come  to  an  end. 
Then,  too,  she  would  act  as  if  she  knew  what  culture 
was,  and  would  dispute  points  that  had  long  since 
been  settled,  as  she  once  did  with  me  on  the  subject 
as  to  whether  petroleum  was  masculine,  feminine,  or 
neuter.  I  remember  when  we  were  discussing  this 
and  other  words,  that  my  fingers  regularly  itched  to 
be  at  her,  and  I  felt  pretty  much  as  if  I  had  been  sit- 
ting upon  red-hot  needles;  but  properly  cultured  folk 
keep  quiet  even  under  such  provocation.  To  forget 
such  things,  however,  is  quite  another  matter. 

In  spite  of  this,  Carl  ventured  one  day — in  the  hap- 
piness of  his  own  heart,  and  as  if  there  had  never  been 


Irritation  against  the  Bergfeldts.  I'^'j 

a  dispute  between  us — to  give  me  the  latest  piece  of 
news,  in  the  shape  that  Frau  Bergfeldt  was  really  a  very 
stately-looking  woman,  and  had  a  very  good  figure 
He  afterwards  said  that  he  m.eant  nothing  special  by 
this  remark  ;  but  I  did  not  let  him  off  with  that.  He 
said  he  thought  that  we  ladies  had  got  to  like  each 
other,  and  to  feel  as  kindly  disposed  towards  each 
other  as  they,  the  husbands,  did,  for  they  had  stuck  to 
each  other  from  their  boyhood.  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  your 
dear  friend  Bergfeldt  would  need  to  have  married  a 
totally  opposite  kind  of  woman.  For  all  I  care,  she 
might  have  been  crooked  and  deformed,  but  to  suit 
my  taste  she  must  have  been  a  woman  of  culture  and 
feeling.  Had  she  been  that,  I  should  have  felt  a  sis- 
terly affection  for  her."  The  upshot  of  all  this  was  a 
long  period  of  irritation  against  the  Bergfeldts,  which 
lasted  till  we  next  met.  Thereupon,  however,  she 
played  me  that  trick  behind  my  back  about  Betti's 
engagement ;  and  when  her  son  Emil  found  an  oppor- 
tunity of  marrying  an  heiress,  her  true  character  came 
out,  for  my  Betti's  happiness  was  of  no  more  value  to 
her  than  a  bad  four-penny  piece,  and — pardon  my 
saying  so — she  coolly  thrust  us  Buchholzes  into  the 
dust-bin.  Hence  I  can  never  in  my  life  again  become 
reconciled  to  her,  although  at  one  time  we  were  on 
very  friendly  terms  ;  now,  however,  she  has  offended 
me  too  mortally. 

For  old  Bergfeldt,  on  the  other  hand,  I  really  feel 
sorry  when  we  meet  by  chance.  How  prematurely 
grey  he  has  become  ;  how  he  totters  in  his  walk,  as  if 
some  unseen  burden  were  weighing  upon  his  shoul- 
ders. My  Carl  does,  it  is  true,  get  a  grey  hair  now  and 
then  ;  but  trust  me  for  pulling  it  out ;  and  as  for  the 
way  he  holds  himself,  he  might  any  day  be  taken  for  a 
drum-major  in  civilian's  dress. 


158  About  Eviirs  Efigagement, 

Yet  what  can  old  Bergfeldt  have  to  worry  about  ? 
Are  tlioy  not  all  going  to  be  as  rich  as  Croesuses  ?  In- 
stead of  going  to  his  office,  he'll  be  able  to  sit  and 
spit  at  the  swans  ;  and  as  to  her,  she  needn't  leave  her 
bed  till  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  can  take  him  pan- 
cakes in  a  silver-gilt  pan.  With  anything  less  than 
that  she'll  never  be  content. 

But  it  all  ended  differently — oh,  how  differently  ! 

When  I  think  of  it,  I  could  almost  fancy  that  what 
I  lived  to  see  cannot  be  true,  cannot  have  happened, 
any  more  than  the  sun  could  go  out  suddenl}^,  or  a 
grand-looking,  beautiful  tree  topple  over  without  any 
warning.  And  yet  a  human  being  is  more  to  one 
than  the  sun,  more  than  a  tree  whose  flourishing 
branches  promise  glorious  fruits.  It  is  difficult  to  be- 
lieve that  he  is  gone,  and  where  he  had  no  right  to 
have  gone. 

My  Carl  had  often  hinted  that  he  was  afraid  trouble 
would  come  of  Emil's  having  engaged  himself  to  that 
heiress,  and  also  thought  that  the  Bergfeldts  were  de- 
ceiving themselves  as  to  the  consequences  ;  Herr  Berg- 
feldt certainly  less  so  than  his  wife.  I  cannot  say  that  this 
astonished  me,  knowing  as  I  did  that  the  woman  had 
been  born  totally  devoid  of  sense  and  had  never  learnt 
anything  since.  At  first  when  Emil  had  become  en- 
gaged to  the  only  daughter  of  the  immensely  rich 
widow,  and  the  girl  was  perfectly  crazy  about  the 
good-looking  young  fellow,  the  Bergfeldts  were  in  a 
supreme  state  of  joy.  Emil  had  managed  to  win  For- 
tune's favour,  and  had  come  in  for  the  prize.  Frau 
Bergfeldt,  of  course,  at  once  flung  herself  at  the  future 
mother-in-law,  and  the  two  became  one  heart  and 
soul.  The  old  lady,  as  well  as  her  daughter,  had  no 
intimate  friends  of  their  own,  notwithstanding  their 
wealth,  so  they  were  glad  to  make  use  of  the  Berg- 


and  its  Effect.  159 

feldts  ;  and,  at  first,  there  was  no  lack  of  present- 
giving.  Emil's  betrothed  gave  him  a  large  gold  watch 
v/ith  a  chain,  and  he  obtained  credit  at  his  tailor's  ;• 
for  the  daughter  liked  to  see  Emil  dressed  in  the  latest 
fashion.  Frau  Bergfeldt  had,  with  the  utmost  friend- 
liness, been  presented  with  several  dress-lengths  of 
silk,  but  it  had  cost  her  a  pretty  penny  to  get  them 
made  up.  The  Weigelts  and  old  Herr  Bergfeldt,  on 
the  other  hand,  got  nothing,  as  of  course  there  was 
no  need  for  their  making  any  show.  The  women-folk 
did  not  perceive  that  there  was  no  genuineness  in  that 
kind  of  affection,  and  allowed  themselves  to  be 
enticed  on  to  the  swampy  declivity,  by  the  show  of 
wealth  ;  old  Bergfeldt,  however,  seemed  half  con- 
scious that  things  were  not  as  they  ought  to  be. 
Emil  probably  felt  this  even  more  clearly,  for  it  was 
he  who  had  finally  to  settle  the  matter. 

It  cannot  exactly  be  said  that  Emil  had  acted  frivol- 
ously; he  was  really  a  good-hearted  fellow  who  aever 
had  any  ill-feeling  towards  anybody,  except  those  who 
had  invented  head-work.  Study  was  a  trouble  to  him. 
Old  Bergfeldt  had,  indeed,  managed  to  scrape  money 
enough  together  for  him  to  attend  the  high-school,  but 
much  had  still  to  be  done  ;  the  real  difficulties  began 
with  his  university  career,  with  his  first  year's  military 
service,  with  the  delay  in  getting  him  an  appointment, 
for  nowadays  there  seem  to  be  more  lawyers  than  law- 
suits. It  was  then  that  the  heiress  appeared  on  the 
scenes,  a  very  God-send.  Emil  would  no  longer  need 
to  bother  about  his  examination,  and  hoped,  at  all 
events,  to  be  able  to  repay, his  father  abundantly  for 
what  had  been  spent  upon  his  education.  This  he  had 
intended  to  do;  he  had  promised  his  father,  his  mother, 
and  his  sister  to  do  so.  But  he  had  made  a  wrong  cal- 
culation. 


i6o  A  Misalliance, 


I  never  knew  his  wife;  I  had  only  seen  her  at  a  dis- 
tance when  they  were  engaged;  but  from  what  I  man- 
aged to  get  out  of  Augusta,  I  know  what  to  think  of 
her.  Where  other  people  have  a  heart,  she  must  have 
had  a  money-bag,  which  she  opened  only  when  it  suited 
her  own  purpose.  Even  before  their  wedding  she  had 
begun  to  consider  Emil's  relatives  beneath  her  notice; 
and  the  grand  people  at  the  wedding,  Augusta  said, 
had  turned  up  their  noses  at  them  so,  that  she  felt  mis- 
erably unhappy  among  them,  and  her  husband  had, 
in  fact,  never  ventured  to  move  from  the  wall,  when 
once  he  had  taken  up  his  position  there.  Augusta  also 
told  us  that  Emil  had  confided  a  good  many  things  to 
her,  that  he  would  never  have  mentioned  to  any  one 
else,  when  he  came  to  see  her  occasionally.  He  had 
told  her  how  hateful  it  was  to  him  to  have  perpetually 
to  stay  at  home  with  the  two  women,  and  to  be  obliged 
to  put  up  with  their  whims;  that  not  a  day  passed 
without  their  dishing  up  his  poverty  to  him,  and  that 
they  were  for  ever  harping  upon  the  subject. 

During  the  very  first  days  of  their  honeymoon,  she 
had  begged  him  to  try  and  make  a  name  for  himself, 
to  work  and  study  so  as  to  win  some  title  by  which  she 
might  be  addressed.  For  affection's  sake  he  might 
perhaps  have  made  an  effort,  but  there  was  no  affection 
on  either  side.  And  when,  one  day,  he  had  asked  her 
for  a  larger  sum  of  money  than  usual  (not  for  himself, 
as  Augusta  told  me  sorrowfully  afterwards),  she 
sneered  at  him,  called  him  a  nonentity,  and  asked  him 
what  he  wanted  money  for. 

He  had  sold  himself,  and  she  now  refused  to  honour 
the  bill  of  exchange.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end. 

It  must  have  been  an  awful  life  that  those  two  led,  a 
very  hell  upon  earth  !     Did  any  one,  I  wonder,  in  pass- 


a7id  its  Fatal  Result.  i6r 

ing  the  villa  in  the  Thiergarten,  with  the  rare  flowers 
iii  the  front  garden,  the  tubs  with  laurels  and  orange 
trees — suspect  that  no  happiness  had  ever  taken  up  its 
abode  behind  those  plate-glass  windows  ?  Did  any  one 
know  that  for  weeks  past,  another  and  hideous  inmate 
had  been  creeping  in  and  out  among  the  corners  of 
those  show-apartments,  an  inmate  whose  step  no  one 
could  hear  but  Emil,  the  supposed  master  of  the 
house  ? 

He  certainly  had  discovered  a  means  by  which  he 
could  close  his  ears,  a  means  that  he  had  found  in  the 
wine-cellar,  and  which  he  made  use  of  even  when  out 
on  supposed  pleasure  trips,  and  he — for  respectability's 
sake — had  been  allowed  to  carry  the  purse.  Yet  there 
were  hours  when  he  was  sober,  and  when  he  felt  his 
misery  doubly;  it  was  then  that  the  watchful  inmate 
in  his  home  would  creep  up  to  him,  and  begin  to  whis- 
per words  to  him — words  that  were  gradually  uttered 
louder  and  louder,  and  with  increasing  persuasiveness: 
"  You  will  have  to  do  it !     You  cannot  help  yourself  !  " 

And  so  the  awful  thing  happened,  and  it  then  became 
clear  who  the  unbidden  guest  had  been — Death  ! 

To  me  it  seems  but  yesterda}'.  Evening  twilight 
had  set  in,  and  the  bustling  noise  of  the  daytime  had 
begun  to  cease,  when  Carl  came  in  more  abruptly  than 
usual.  I  noticed,  at  once,  that  something  must  have 
happened,  and  asked  (before  he  had  time  to  utter  a 
word),  "  Carl,  what  is  it  ?  What  misfortune  has  hap- 
pened ?  " — "  My  poor,  poor  old  friend  Bergfeldt !  "  he 
said  sorrowfully. — "  Has  he  lost  his  place  ?  " — "  He 
has  had  a  greater  loss  than  that — his  son  Emil." — 
"Lost!  do  you  say?" — "Emil  is  dead."— r"  Impossi- 
ble !  "  I  exclaimed  aghast. — "  It's  only  too  true,  he  has 
shot  himself.  I  have  just  come  from  Bergfeldt.  He 
is  utterly  broken  down,  Augusta  is  with  him  " — "  And 
1 1 


1 62  Alone. 

where  is  she — the  mother?" — "Where  else  could  she 
be,  but  with  her  dead  son  ? " — "  Alone  ? " — "  The  two 
ladies  have  meanwhile  gone  to  an  hotel;  they  left  the 
house,  abusing  the  poor,  dead  man  for  having  brought 
this  disgrace  upon  them."—"  Left  alone  !  "  I  exclaimed. 
"  Car],  I  must  go  to  her.  Such  great  sorrow  she  can- 
not bear  alone.  If  I  cannot  give  her  back  her  son,  still 
I  can  mourn  with  her." — Carl  embraced  me,  and  had 
to  support  me,  this  news  seemed  to  have  robbed  me  of 
all  my  strength.  We  had  been  fond  of  Emil;  he  had 
at  one  time  stood  closer  to  us  than  many  thousands  in 
this  world. — "  Go  to  her,"  said  Carl  softly,  "  I  have 
told  my  old  friend  that  I  will  attend  to  all  the  melan- 
choly business  that  will  have  to  be  done.  When  it  is 
dark  I  will  come  with  the  men." 

Sooner  than  I  thought,  my  cab  had  driven  up  to  the 
gate.  I  got  out,  lifted  the  latch,  opened  the  gate  and 
closed  it  again  quietly  behind  me.  In  front  of  the 
house  a  man-servant  was  waiting,  and  let  me  in  in 
silence.  I  took  off  my  things  in  the  hall,  where  two 
large  Moorish  figures  were  holding  lamps  in  their 
hands,  and  had  a  grin  on  their  faces;  this  alone  made 
me  feel  uncomfortable.  To  have  to  put  up  with  such 
artificial  company  every  day,  must  verily  have  been  a 
penance.  The  man-servant  opened  a  door  for  me,  and 
I  walked  in  hesitatingly. 

Only  one  gas  flame,  and  that  half  turned  down,  was 
burning  in  the  chandelier,  probably  in  order  that  the 
room  might  be  kept  cool;  nevertheless,  the  gilt  frames 
of  the  mirrors  and  pictures  glistened  in  the  semi-dark- 
ness, as  did  also  the  bright  majolica  vases  and  por- 
celain figures,  of  which  there  was  an  over-abundance 
on  the  cabinets.  All  this  I  noticed,  but  could  not  see 
Frau  Bergfeldt.  I  was  about  to  move  into  the  adjoin- 
ing room,  which  was  separated  from  the  one  I  was  in 


Viewing  the  Dead.  163 

by  a  heavy  plush  curtain,  when  I  became  aware  that 
something  was  moving  in  one  of  the  darkest  corners  of 
the  room.  I  stood  still.  It  was  she.  Miserable  and 
utterly  broken  down,  there  she  sat  in  an  arm-chair  em- 
broidered in  gold,  and  her  eyes,  which  had  a  dull  and 
vacant  look,  were  turned  towards  me.  "  Is  it  you  ? " 
she  said  in  a  scarcely  audible  voice,  "  I  knew  you  would 
come  !  "  I  sat  down  beside  her.  I  took  her  hands  in 
mine,  I  smoothed  her  hair  and  stroked  her  cheeks,  but 
she  took  no  notice,  and  seemed  to  fancy  herself  still 
alone.     I  tried  to  speak,  but  couldn't. 

After  a  little  while,  she  rose  and  said  in  a  hoarse 
voice  :  "  Would  you  like  to  see  him  ?  "  I  merely  nod- 
ded. She  took  me  by  the  hand  and  drew  me  into  the 
next  room.  There  upon  a  little  table  burned  a  spirally- 
twisted  red  candle,  such  as  have  become  the  fashion  ; 
it  was  standing  in  a  silver  candle-stick,  and  threw  a 
flickering  light  over  a  couch,  across  which  an  Eastern 
shawl  had  been  placed.  She  moved  back  the  shawl 
and  gazed  motionlessly  upon  the  pale  face  of  her  son. 
He  lay  there  as  if  asleep,  except  that  in  his  left  temple 
was  a  small  dark  wound  where  the  ball  had  entered 
his  head.  I  struggled  in  vain  with  my  tears,  they 
burst  forth  unrestrainedly.  "He  will  never  wake 
again,"  she  began,  "the  doctors  have  been  here  ;  they 
said  his  aim  must  have  been  steady.  Why  did  not  his 
hand  tremble  ?  He  might  be  alive  now.  Why  did  his 
hand  not  tremble  ?" 

How  could  I  answer  her  ?  He,  no  doubt,  wished  to 
free  himself  from  a  hateful  life  ;  that  is  why  his  aim 
was  so  certain.  "  Hadn't  we  better  go  back  now  ?  " 
she  asked.  "I  have  been  sitting  beside  him,  but  a 
scraping  noise  over  there  by  the  stove  frightened  me. 
It  may  have  been  mice." 

One   look   more,  one   last  look.     Then   I   drew  the 


164  Wilhelmine  Soliloquises. 

shawl  over  the  corpse,  and  led  the  mother  back  to  her 
old  seat.  From  time  to  time  a  carriage  might  be 
heard  driving  past,  otherwise  the  house  seemed  as  si- 
lent as  midnight. 

"  Frau  Buchholz,"  she  said  at  last,  breaking  the 
silence,  "I  am  so  terribly  thirsty  ;  I  have  been  all  the 
time.  I  didn't  like  to  tell  the  servant,  he  looks  so 
grand.  I  should  so  like  some  white  beer,  only  a 
mouthful.  You  are  so  fearless — Emil  always  said  so 
— would  you  mind  asking  him  ?" 

I  went  out  and  ordered  the  man  to  get  what  she 
wanted.  He  was  about  to  raise  objections,  by  saying 
that  he  couldn't  leave  the  house,  but  an  abrupt  Allez 
from  me  made  him  take  to  his  heels. 

When  he  came  back  I  took  the  glass  of  beer  myself 
and  gave  it  to  her.  With  a  look  full  of  thanks,  she 
took  a  long,  long  draught.  How  thirsty  she  must 
have  been  !  How  she  must  have  suffered,  poor  wom- 
an !  She  drew  a  deep  breath,  and  her  whole  body 
trembled.  "  My  son,  my  son  I  "  she  cried  aloud,  and 
her  voice  then  became  choked  with  sobs. 

Oh,  Emil  !  if  you  had  thought  of  your  mother's  de- 
spair, your  hand  would  have  trembled,  you  would 
have  hurled  the  weapon  from  you.  Unhappy  child  ! 
you  did  not  strike  yourself  only,  you  struck  the  hearts 
of  your  parents  as  well.  Was  there  no  other  path  by 
which  you  could  have  escaped  from  your  misery  ? 
God  in  heaven  forgive  you — your  great  sin  !  It  v/as 
only  by  degrees  that  I  succeeded  in  pacifying  her  a 
little.  By  the  time  Carl  came  she  had  become  com- 
posed, and  was  willing  to  come  away.  Once  more  she 
went  into  the  room  where  Emil  lay  ;  she  knelt  beside 
the  dead  youth  and  kissed  his  pale  lips  for  the  last 
time.  Then  she  let  us  put  on  her  cloak  and  bonnet  as 
though  she  had  been  a  child.     A  cab  was  waiting  at 


Bctti  acting  as  a  Comforter.  165 

the  door.  Carl  and  I  took  her  between  us,  so  that  she 
did  not  see  the  men  who  were  standing  in  the  garden, 
in  the  dark,  with  the  bier.  Carl  returned  to  the  house 
and  we  drove  off  townwards.  I  held  her  in  my  arms 
till  we  reached  their  house,  where  Augusta  came  to 
meet  us.  "Oh,  Frau  Buchholz,"  she  sobbed,  "dear 
Frau  Buchholz,  how  differently  it  has  all  ended — how 
differently  !  " 


THE    EVENTFUL   THURSDAY. 

Nature  has  certainly  acted  wisely  in  having  made 
the  earth  round,  and  in  setting  it  revolving,  for  in  this 
way  old  times  come  to  be  turned  down  and  new  times 
come  to  be  uppermost.  One  drawback,  however,  is, 
that  everything  gets  crushed  in  the  process,  sorrov/  as 
well  as  jo}-,  and  that  nothing  lasts  for  ever.  Yet,  where 
do  we  find  anything  perfect  throughout  ? 

By  degrees  the  Bergfeldts  became  resigned  to  the 
trouble  that  had  fallen  upon  them  ;  Betti  went  fre- 
quently to  see  them,  and  chatted  away  to  the  old 
father  of  an  evening.  This  was  not  an  easy  task  to 
her,  especially  at  first,  but  when  she  came  to  see  how 
it  comforted  the  father  to  talk  about  Emil's  childhood 
— telling  her  first  one  thing  and  then  another,  with 
many  a  repetition  and  digression — she  was  only  too 
glad  to  be  a  patient  listener.  The  old  man,  she  said, 
never  spoke  of  the  last  occurrence,  and  seemed  as  if 
he  had  scarcely  realised  what  had  actually  happened. 
Betti  sacrificed  herself,  but  she  did  it  willingly  ;  her 
painting,  writing,  work  for  bazaars,  and  the  many 
other  things  with  which  young  ladies  occupy  them- 
selves, had  all  to  be  sot  aside,  for  all  her  spare  time 


1 66  About  Coats  of  Arms 

was  devoted  to  the  sorrowing  parents.  Even  the  Po- 
lice-lieutenant's wife  hinted  to  me  tliat  Betti  was  neg- 
lecting lier. 

But  why  need  we  always  be  ready  to  do  what  she 
wishes  ?  Why  need  we  feel  flattered  at  her  sending 
round  for  us  and  entertaining  us  with  talk  about  her 
connections  and  their  family-tree? 

That  might  have  been  the  case  in  former  days,  but 
no  longer  now  since  we  have  learned  that  the  Buch- 
holzes  are  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  Berlin.  This 
was  discovered  by  Herr  Hermann  Vogt,  among  the 
city  archives,  while  he  was  making  his  researches 
about  the  history  of  Berlin,  and  it  was  he  who  told  us. 
The  first  known  Buchholz,  called  Claus,  was  a  town 
councillor  in  Berlin  from  1449  to  145 1,  and  lived  in 
the  Stralauer  Strasse.  Another,  George  Buchholz,  a 
dean,  rendered  great  services  to  Berlin  in  connection 
with  the  introduction  of  the  Reformation,  and  even  in 
those  days  couldn't  swallow  the  idea  of  going  to  Ca- 
nossa.  These  services  of  his  were  rewarded,  for,  on 
the  15th  of  August,  1540,  he  received  a  considerable 
increase  of  salary.  Further,  one  Kersten  Buchholz,  in 
the  year  1452,  was  head  of  the  Guild  of  St.  Mary, 
which  erected  and  maintained  at  its  own  expense  an 
altar  in  St.  Nicholas's  Church,  to  the  honour  and  glory 
of  God.  All  this  is  stated  in  the  ancient  records,  where 
there  is  also  a  coloured  illustration  of  the  Buchholzes' 
coat  of  arms  ;  in  the  upper  field,  silver,  half  of  an  iron 
knight  holding  a  beech-tree  in  his  right  hand,  in  the 
lower  field,  silver,  two  red  planks  with  a  beech-tree  be- 
tween them.  The  self-same  knight  forms  the  crest  of 
the  helmet. 

Thus  we  are  certainly  not  mere  people  of  yesterday. 
What  I  mean  to  do  is  to  set  Betti  to  work  at  em- 
broidering our  coat  of  arms  on  silk,  and  she  shall  take 


and  Reels  of  Cotton.  167 

this  work  to  the  Police-lieutenant's  house,  when  next 
we  are  invited  there.  If  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife 
should  ask  what  the  work  is,  I  shall  simply  say  :  It  is 
only  our  coat  of  arms — that  will  stagger  her,  I  should 
think.  On  our  visiting  cards  and  note  paper  the  crest 
will  look  both  charming  and  aristocratic.  But  people 
need  possess  the  faculty  of  appreciating  such  things  ; 
unfortunately  Dr.  Wrenzchen  and  Uncle  Fritz  are  al- 
together wanting  in  that  respect. 

In  fact,  as  regards  Uncle  Fritz,  the  world  might  as 
well  be  standing  still  without  a  vestige  of  revolving 
about  it.  For  a  few  years  ago  when,  by  way  of  ad- 
vice, I  said  to  him  :  "  Fritz,  you  ought  to  be  getting 
married,"  he  replied,  "Wilhehn,  that  would  be  too 
much  for  me  ;  I'd  rather  buy  myself  a  musical  box." 
— Yet,  although,  I  know  that  he  has  had  enough  of  a 
bachelor's  life,  he  takes  absolutely  no  measures  for 
altering  his  ways.  So  I  made  up  my  mind  last  Thurs- 
day to  give  him  a  regular  talking  to.  We  always  have 
some  friends  in  on  Thursday  evenings,  in  order  that 
Doctor  Wrenzchen  may  come  to  see  that  by  persist- 
ently remaining  away  he  will  at  last  draw  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  whole  family  upon  him. 

As  good  luck  would  have  it,  Uncle  Fritz  came  in 
somewhat  earlier  than  the  others,  so  that  I  could  not 
have  wished  for  a  better  opportunity  for  giving  him  a 
bit  of  my  mind.  After  he  had  answered  my  inquiry, 
as  to  how  he  had  been  keeping,  in  his  usual  way  by 
saying,  "  So-so-ish,"  he  sat  down  and  began  playing 
with  my  work-basket,  till  he  had  made  himself  one 
big  toy  out  of  all  the  reels  and  needles,  as  was  always 
his  way. 

"  Fritz,"  I  began,  "  are  you  for  ever  going  to  remain 
a  child  ?  Surely  some  day  you're  going  to  show  you 
have  got   some   sense  ! "     Instead   of    giving   me   an 


1 68  Uncle  Fritz  Cross-examiricd. 

answer  he  set  his  toy  a-spinning,  and  seemed  to  be 
greatly  amused  with  it. 

"What  can  people  think  of  you  ?  "  I  continued.  "Is 
your  present  mode  of  life  so  very  much  to  your  liking 
that  you  can't  give  it  up?  Are  you  still  perfectly  con- 
tent with  having  to  dine  at  a  restaurant  every  day  ? " 
— "  You  know  I  never  liked  that,"  he  replied  ;  "  five 
changes  of  plates  and  never  a  thing  upon  them  ! 
That's  not  an  arrangement  to  please  any  one  of  Ger- 
many's sons,  who,  as  a  rule,  are  accustomed  to  simple 
but  substantial  eating  at  home." — "Well,  then,"  said 
I,  "  why  don't  you  start  a  dinner-table  of  your  own  ? " 
He  was  silent,-,  and  merely  kept  spinning  his  toy. 
"  How  far  have  you  brought  matters  with  the  old 
grandmother  in  Lingen?"  I  said,  at  last,  aiming 
straight  at  the  point.  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  suppose  I 
may  say  we're  half  way  ;  I've  done  my  half  of  the 
road." — "Fritz,  I  do  beg  of  you  to  be  serious.  If  you 
have  firmly  resolved  to  marry  Erica,  let  this  dilly- 
dallying come  to  an  end,  otherwise  look  about  for 
some  one  else." — "  I'll  not  dream  of  any  such  thing." 
— "What's  the  reason  then  that  matters  are  at  such  a 
standstill  ?  " — "  It's  the  old  grandmother — that's  the 
long  and  the  short  of  it.  She's  taken  it  into  her  head 
that  Berlin  is  a  nest  of  wickedness,  and  that  I  am  the 
blackest  gaol-bird  in  it ;  that  her  grand-daughter's 
soul  would  be  ruined  for  ever  if  the  girl  were  with- 
drawn from  her  care." — "But  what  does  Erica's  father 
say  ? " — "  Nothing.  He  has  to  do  what  the  old  woman 
wills.  Her  money  is  in  the  business,  and  so  she  has 
the  whole  tribe  under  her  thumb." — "Then  he's  a 
mere  night-cap  ?  "^"  With  tassels  !  " — "  And  I  think 
it  presumption  in  her  to  want  to  have  the  reins  in  her 
own  hands  still.  Old  people  may  have  their  own 
opinions,  but  so  have  young  people,  and  they  ought 


Ericas  Praises  Sung.  169 

to  be  allowed  to  act  freely." — "  How  right  you  are, 
Wilhelmine  !  and  that's  exactly  what  Dr.  Wrenzchen 
says  himself." — "  I  didn't  mean  in  everything,"  I  added 
hurriedly;  "a  certain  amount  of  guidance  is  indis- 
pensable. That's  evident  enough  from  your  own  case, 
Fritz.  Now,  I  think  you  ought  in  some  way  to  make 
up  for  the  bad  impression  you  made  upon  the  grand- 
mother, and  thus  win  her  respect." — "  I  can't  possibly 
go  to  Lingen  merely  to  show  her  how  well  I  can  stand 
being  thirsty." — "  Tell  me  one  thing,  Fritz — is  Erica 
really  fond  of  you,  and  likely  to  stand  by  you  ?  " — 
"  She  ?  why,  she  wouldn't  give  me  up,  not  if  she  were 
to  get  grey-headed  before  matters  were  settled  !  i\nd 
I — I  don't  mean  to  give  her  up — that's  as  sure  as  a 
gun." — "Well,  then,  you  both  mean  to  go  to  your 
wedding  on  crutches,  I  suppose?" — ''If  only  Erica 
were  not  so  submissive.  In  her  pious  simplicity  she 
imagines  that  to  leave  her  home  without  her  grand- 
mother's blessing,  would  bring  disgrace  upon  her  own 
people  ;  otherwise  the  way  she  is  tyrannised  over  at 
home  would  long  since  have  come  to  an  end.  I  have 
tried  everything  that  can  be  done,  but  the  conclusion 
of  all  her  warm-hearted  letters  is  always  :  '  hope  and 
trust ;  our  love  will  yet  overcome  all  difficulties.'  " 

"That's  very  touching,  certainly,"  I  remarked;  "  but 
what's  to  be  the  end  of  all  this  tomfoolery  ?  Are  you 
sure,  Fritz,  that  it's  not  more  obstinacy  than  affection 
on  your  part  that  makes  you  so  set  upon  that  one 
girl  ?  " — "  Wilhelmine,  you  know  I  took  a  liking  to  Er- 
ica the  very  first  moment  I  saw  her.  I  felt  myself 
drawn  to  her  at  every  turn  and  corner." — "You  were 
for  ever  at  the  Krauses  while  she  was  there,  certainly, 
I  know." — "She  was  so  simple,  so  childlike,  and  kind- 
hearted.  I  soon  discovered  that  her  life  at  home 
hadn't  much  pleasantness  for  her;  the  very  country  it 


I/O      Avarice  and  Malice  rule  the  Household. 

self  is  not  much  better  than  a  morass,  a  road  lined 
with  ti'ces,  and  a  heap  of  earth  which  they  call  a  hill." 
— "  Probably  as  high  as  our  Kreuzberg." — "  Half  a 
meter  lower,  at  least." — "  What  about  the  town  itself  ?  " 
— "  Clean  and  pleasant-looking,  but  not  quite  as  big 
as  Berlin." — "That  I  could  have  imagined,  without 
your  in'^enious  observation.  Yet  the  life  there  may 
be  pleasant  enough  for  all  that." — *'  If  the  family  cir- 
cumstances permitted,  no  doubt  it  might.  But  Erica's 
existence  must  be  a  wretched  one.  That  she  has  to 
work  from  morning  till  night  is  the  least  part  of  it; 
but  she  never  gets  a  kind  word  for  what  she  does,  and 
is  told  a  hundred  times  a  day  that  every  one  has  his 
or  her  duties  in  life;  and  a  fearful  hullabaloo  is  made 
about  the  slightest  piece  of  forgetfulness,  as  if  it  were 
a  veritable  crime.  That's  what  makes  her  life  unbear- 
able. Avarice  and  malice  seem  to  rule  the  household; 
everything  that  costs  money  they  call  sinful,  and  what 
they  can  stint  their  bodies  of,  is  considered  piety." — 
"  So  she  is  not  as  happy  as  might  be  ?  " — "  I  mean  to 
get  her  out  from  among  that  set.  Everything  she  has 
had  to  put  up  with,  hitherto,  shall  be  made  good  to 
her.  Life  is  new  to  her  still;  by  my  side  she  shall 
learn  to  know  what  it  really  is.  I  will  show  her  how 
beautiful  it  is;  in  her  eyes  I  will  read  how  happy  she 
has  become;  she  shall  be  mine  yet,  that  gentle  dpve. 
You  see,  Wilhelmine,  that  I've  made  up  my  mind;  it's 
the  grandmother  that  won't." — "  Fritz,  does  she  know 
anything  about  cooking?" — ''Who.'*" — "Why,  Erica, 
of  course." — "I  never  asked  her." — "Well,  I  could 
teach  her;  I  know  your  favourite  dishes." — "We've 
not  got  as  far  as  that  yet,  however." — "  If  it  can't  be 
managed  otherwise,  I'll  go  to  Lingen  myself,  and  let 
them  hear  what  I've  got  to  say.  Let  me  but  meet  that 
grandmother  face  to  face !  " — "You'd  take  her  by 


Herr  Krause  dressed  in    Wool.  171 

the  heels,  I  dare  say." — "  Fritz,  is  that  an  expression 
fit  for  the  delicate  proceeding  in  question,  and  one 
that  can  be  managed  only  by  a  woman,  because  it  de- 
mands tact  and  feeling  ?  But  mark  me — either  this 
affair  is  put  into  proper  order,  or  that  old  woman  will 
get  to  know  who  I  am." 

The  Krauses  came  in  just  as  I  had  finished  speak- 
ing, so  there  was  an  end  to  our  conversation.  Herr 
Krause  was  dressed  in  so-called  Jager's  clothing;  it  is 
said  to  be  good  for  the  health,  and  allows  worry  and 
vexation  to  ventilate  out  of  the  body  better  than  ordi- 
nary clothing.  This  is  very  necessary  in  Herr  Krause's 
case,  for  Eduard's  mischievous  doings  have  lately 
again  been  carried  so  far,  that  he  was  one  day  dis- 
missed from  school.  Of  course  he  was  not  removed; 
but  had  it  not  been  that  Herr  Krause  is  himself  a 
teacher,  and  that  the  boy  promised  before  the  assem- 
bled conference  to  alter  his  ways,  he  would  have  been 
ignominiously  expelled.  So  Herr  Krause  is  now 
obliged  to  go  about  in  wool,  owing  to  that  gobd-for- 
notliing  boy  of  his.  Uncle  Fritz  says  that  Krause  looks, 
of  all  things  in  the  world,  like  a  worn-out  old  acrobat 
in  search  of  an  engagement.  Frau  Krause,  on  the 
other  hand,  likes  the  garments,  because  she  thinks 
they  make  her  husband  look  spruce,  and,  moreover, 
are  economical  as  regards  washing,  for  linen  is  ruined 
in  no  time  by  the  quantity  of  borax  and  other  stuffs 
the  laundresses  worry  into  the  things.  In  this  respect 
of  course  I  could  not  but  admit  that  she  was  right; 
for  what  is  called  a  new  method  of  doing  up  things  is,  in 
reality,  nothing  but  a  method  of  making  things  old — it 
so  rots  the  clothes.  Stiff  the  things  may  be,  as  stiff  as 
boards,  and  as  glossj''  as  a  tile-covered  stove,  but 
they're  as  brittle  as  glass.  Hence  I  have  never  sent 
our  fine  things  out  to  be  washed,  and  yet  my  Carl  is 
alwavs  as  trim  as  can  be. 


172  Enimi  keeps  the  Accounts. 

The  gentlemen  sat  down  to  whist  with  a  dummy. 
Uncle  Fritz,  who,  as  a  rule,  always  wins,  played  badly 
that  evening.  This  put  Herr  Krause,  who  was  his 
partner,  somewhat  out  of  temper,  which  it  oughtn't  to 
have  done,  sitting  as  he  was  in  wool,  as  I  remarked  to 
Frau  Krause.  She  rattled  away,  trying  to  make  all 
sorts  of  excuses,  and  said,  among  other  things,  that 
perhaps  the  wool  he  was  wearing  came  from  an  angry 
lot  of  sheep;  however,  the  truth  was  that  Eduard  was 
really  the  cause  of  her  husband's  great  irritability. 

A  little  before  supper-time  Emmi  came  in,  and  I  at 
once  noticed  that  something  was  wrong.  Here  we 
have  it,  at  last,  thought  I.  I  took  her  into  the  adjoin- 
ing room,  where  supper  was  laid,  and  said  :  "Well, 
have  you  come  to  blows,  already  ?  " — "1  was  weary  at 
home,"  she  replied,  "  and  if  Franz  chooses  to  go  out 
to  play  skat,  surely  I  may  go  out  too  if  I  please." — 
"  Haven't  I  always  told  you  that  ?  You  ought  long 
since  to  have  shown  more  spirit.  Is  he  coming  to 
fetch  you  later  ?  "  She  shook  her  head  negatively. 
"  Have  you  really  had  a  quarrel,  Emmi  ?  " — "  No,  not 
exactly;  but  is  he  always  to  be  in  the  right  ?  " — "  Why, 
I  should  think  not  !  " — ''  You  know.  Mamma,  that  I 
conscientiously  keep  an  exact  account  of  every  small 
purchase  I  make,  even  the  milk  for  Maffi." — "  By  the 
way,  did  you  bring  the  creature  with  you  ?" — "  No,  he 
was  sleeping  when  I  came  away,  and  I  did  not  care  to 
spend  money  for  a  cab  on  his  account.  But  Iwant  to 
tell  you  that  Franz  maintains  it's  not  the  writing  down 
all  the  items  that  makes  a  good  housewife,  he  says  it's 
in  keeping  down  the  accounts." — "  Was  it  about  that 
you  got  angry  ?  " — "  I  merely  said  he  could  go  and  look 
in  the  store-room,  and  he  would  know  where  the 
money  had  all  gone  to.  I  had  got  in  two  hams,  the 
string  of  sausages,  butter,  and  a  lot  of  other   things 


A   meinorable   Thursday.  173 

besides." — "  But,  Emmi,  what  makes  you  buy  so  much 
at  a  time,  when  you  can  have  things  in  fresh  when  you 
need  them  ?  If  you  have  too  much  in  the  house,  the 
things  will  only  spoil." — "  Our  cook  thought  we  hadn't 
enough  provisions  in  the  house,  and  Franz  doesn't  un- 
derstand these  things.  It  was  she.  too,  who  advised 
me  to  go  out  this  evening,  for  she  said  it  would  be  the 
best  way  of  putting  an  end  to  such  disputes." — 
"  Emmi,  I  cannot  honestly  say  that  your  husband  is 
wrong  in  the  present  case,"  said  I,  for  I  had  no  wish  to 
take  the  cook's  part.  "  One  thing,  however,  I  do  ap- 
prove of  is,  that  you  have  made  a  beginning  in  showing 
him  that  you  can  take  refuge  in  your  parent's  house. 
You  just  wait  and  see  if  we  shall  not  all  of  us  re- 
member this  Thursday." 

And  verily  we  did  remember  it.  The  day  is  one 
that  will  dwell  in  the  memories  of  us  all,  however  old 
w^e  may  live  to  be.  How  I  do  repent  ever  having  ad- 
vised Emmi  to  give  tit  for  tat,  in  order  to  get  her 
husband  under  her  thumb.  How  terribly  I  had  to 
atone  for  it  all  afterwards.  And  yet  I  had  no  pre- 
sentiment whatever  that  the  tragedy  would  begin  that 
very  evening;  otherwise  I  should  assuredly  have  said  : 
"  Emmi,  you  had  better  go  home,  things  are  looking 
rather  askew." 

Emmi  herself  did  not  seem  to  be  feeling  altogether 
comfortable.  She  had  no  appetite,  and  the  later  it  got 
the  more  restless  she  became.  It  was  somewhat  the 
same  with  me  also.  I  kept  thinking,  "What  if  Dr. 
VVrenzchen  should  get  wild  with  rage  ?  They  had 
hitherto  lived  in  the  utmost  harmony — that  is  to  say, 
all  excepting  his  Thursday  evenings  out.  Yet,  had  he 
not  stipulated  for  them  at  the  outset  ?  "  A  chilly  feel- 
ing would  creep  up  iny  spine  when  I  thought  that  if 
anything  happened  I  should  be  blamed  for  it  all,  and 


174  Visited  by  a  Policeman. 

should  never  again  venture  to  look  my  Carl  in  the 
face.  I  was  on  the  point  of  saying  to  Emmi,  "  Don't 
you  think  you  had  better  be  going;  Uncle  Fritz  will 
see  you  home,"  when  we  heard  a  violent  ring  at  the 
front  door.  Emmi  stared  at  me,  and  I  at  her.  It  was 
only  misfortune  that  could  have  rung  the  bell  in  that 
way. 

My  Carl,  who  saw  that  neither  of  us  were  capable  of 
moving,  and  had  long  since  noticed  that  things  were 
not  all  square,  went  out  to  see  who  was  there.  He  was 
a  horribly  long  time  in  coming  back,  so  it  seemed  to 
me;  and  when  he  did  return,  he  called  me  out  of  the 
room.  I  had  made  up  my  mind,  of  course,  that  I  should 
probably  have  to  face  Dr.  Wrenzchen  in  some  degree 
of  wrath.  In  place  of  this  I  found  a  policeman  stand- 
ing in  our  entrance;  he,  in  a  very  formal  way,  gave  us 
to  understand  that  Dr.  Wrenzchen's  house  had  been 
broken  into,  and  added  that  he  had  been  requested  to 
see  that  the  Doctor's  wife  was  informed  of  the  fact  in 
as  gentle  a  way  as  possible.  The  Doctor  had  also 
commissioned  him  to  say  that  if  the  lady  were  at  all 
afraid,  she  was  to  remain  overnight  at  the  Lands- 
berger  Strasse. 

Emmi,  who  had  hurried  out  of  the  room  after  us, 
heard  all  the  policeman  had  said,  but  nothing  would 
induce  her  to  remain  with  us.  So  a  cab  was  quickly 
procured,  and  without  even  bidding  the  Krauses  good- 
night, we  drove  off  to  Dr.  Wrenzchen's  house. 

We  found  a  pretty  state  of  things  there.  Dr.  Wrenz- 
chen was  trying  to  discover  what  had  been  stolen;  one 
policeman  helped  him  in  this,  another  kept  watch  at 
the  door,  and  a  third  was  examining  the  rooms,  and 
entering  notes  in  a  pocket-book.  Emmi  flew  to  Franz, 
who  greeted  her  at  once  with  the  words:  "Things  are 
not  so  very  bad  after  all.     They've  not  carried  off  much 


A   State  of  Utter  Confusion.  175 

money;  luckily  I  went  to  the  bank  this  morning,  and 
the  other  things  can  be  replaced  in  time."  She  was 
about  to  beg  forgiveness  for  having  left  the  house,  but 
he  called  it  a  lucky  accident  that  she  happened  to  be 
out,  as  otherwise  she  might  have  fared  as  badly  as  the 
servant-girl,  whom  the  robbers  had  gagged  with  a 
towel  to  prevent  her  calling  out,  and  had  also  locked 
her  up  in  a  room,  bound  hand  and  foot;  he  had  found 
her  half  unconscious,  in  this  state,  when  he  came  in. 

Their  rooms  did,  indeed,  present  a  most  murderous 
appearance.  In  place  of  newly-married  neatness  and 
order,  that  affects  the  very  bones  in  the  larder,  every- 
thing was  in  a  state  of  confusion,  as  if  an  auction  were 
being  held.  The  robbers  had  pushed  away  the  escri- 
toire from  the  w^all,  and  had  damaged  the  w^riting- 
table.  The  doors  of  a  wardrobe  were  standing  open, 
and  clothes  were  lying  about  on  chairs  and  on  the 
floor.  The  Doctor's  best  dress-suit  had  been  taken, 
and  an  older  suit  left  for  him  to  wear.  All  the  silver 
was  gone,  except  the  candelabra  presented  to  the  Doc- 
tor at  his  w^edding.  Uncle  Fritz  noticed  this,  and 
called  out  triumphantly,  "  Now  you  see  they  are  only 
plated  !  "  The  store-room  had  been  ransacked:  the 
hams  and  sausages  were  gone.  The  thieves  had  not 
shown  a  spark  of  reverence  for  anything. 

In  consequence  of  the  men's  muddy  boots,  more- 
over, the  house  looked  as  if  a  caravan  had  marched 
through  it..  Perfectly  dreadful  !  And  then  the  un- 
pleasant consciousness  that  the  robbers,  with  their 
thieving  hands,  had  been  rummaging  about  in  boxes 
and  drawers,  doing  so  probably  amid  rude  jokes,  and 
ridiculing  things  that  were  of  no  value  to  them,  but 
precious  to  the  young  people  for  recollection's  sake. 
On  all  sides  there  were  trac.s  of  the  thieves,  and  the 
place  even  smelt  of  them.     The  poet,  it  is  true,  says  : 


1/6  Dr.    Wrcnzchcn  and  the  Po'.ice. 

"Sacred  unto  all  time  are  the  abodes  of  good  men  ;  " 
but  I  would  say,  any  abode  that  has  been  touched  by 
bad  men  one  will  not  readily  like  again  in  one's  life. 
The  Doctor  will  have  to  move  ;  no  long  day  of  clean- 
ing and  scrubbing  would  ever  destroy  the  picture  of 
horror  and  desolation  those  rooms  presented.  And 
the  burglars— where  were  they?  They  had  vanished 
like  any  lovely  dream. 

The  police  forthwith  took  a  statement  of  what  had 
occurred.  The  servant-girl  was  called,  and  came  in 
with  a  pocket-handkerchief  at  her  eyes.  The  people 
on  the  floor  above,  too,  a  Herr  Greve  and  his  wife  and 
daughter,  we  asked  to  come  down  and  state  what  they 
knew  of  the  matter. 

The  result  of  all  the  questionings  and  answers  was 
— that  as  soon  as  Frau  Wrenzchen  had  left  the  house, 
a  man  came  to  fetch  the  Doctor  to  see  some  sick  per- 
son. The  servant-girl  had  told  him  where  the  Doctor 
was  to  be  found,  whereupon  the  man  had  replied  that 
perhaps  it  would  be  time  enough  if  the  Doctor  came 
early  in  the  morning,  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  write 
down  the  address.  The  girl  said  that  she  let  the  man 
in,  but  that,  at  the  same  moment,  a  second  man  had 
forced  his  way  in,  and  clapped  his  hand  tightly  over 
her  mouth  to  prevent  her  screaming  ;  she  said  she  be- 
came unconscious  then  from  fright,  and  when  she 
recovered  found  that  she  could  neither  scream  nor 
move,  as  she  was  gagged  and  bound  hand  and  foot. 
The  Doctor  had  found  her  in  this  state  when  he  came 
in.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  corroborated  the  girl's  statement, 
but  expressed  his  astonishment  at  having,  when  he 
came  in,  found  all  the  doors  unlocked,  though  closed. 
When  he  saw  what  had  occurred,  he  at  once  called  a 
watchman,  and  then  hurried  to  summon  the  police  ; 
they  immediately  declared  that  the  gagging  and  fet- 


WilJicluiiiic  has  her  oivn  Ideas.  177 

tering  of  the  girl,  as  well  as  the  robbery,  must  have 
been  committed  by  several  persons ;  that  this  was 
proved  simply  by  the  heavy  escritoire  having  been 
moved  from  the  vv^all.  Herr  Greve  and  his  wife  main- 
tained that  they  had  not  heard  any  noise  in  the  slight- 
est degree  suspicious. 

"What  had  the  rascals  looked  like?"  the  girl  was 
then  asked.  She  said  she  couldn't  exactly  say,  but  re- 
membered that  both  of  them  had  full  black  beards. 
"  How  could  you  be  so  careless  to  let  in  suspicious- 
looking  men,  with  black  beards,  like  swindlers  ?  "  said 
I  to  her.  The  impertinent  creature  answered  that  she 
couldn't  tell  what  people  were  by  looking  at  their 
noses.  "  Why  did  you  not  call  for  help  ?  "  She  re- 
plied, that  as  I  wasn't  a  police-inspector,  she  didn't 
need  to  answer  me.  "  If  you'd  a  clear  conscience  you 
wouldn't  be  so  insolent,"  I  replied.  What  did  I  mean 
by  that  1  I  might  have  my  own  ideas  ;  perhaps  the 
provisions  were  bought  expressly  for  the  thieves  ?  I 
should  have  to  give  an  account  of  such  speeches. 
"With  pleasure,"  said  I  ;  "  I  know  you  well,  and  think 
you  capable  of  anything."  The  Doctor  was  about  to 
interfere,  but  I  exclaimed  :  "  Depend  upon  it,  she's 
had  her  hand  in  this  business  ;  nobody  will  make  me 
believe  otherwise."  The  girl  then  flew  into  a  passion, 
and  I  can't  say  what  my  answers  to  her  were,  for  she 
was  so  utterly  wanting  in  respect.  She  called  the 
police  and  Herr  and  Frau  Greve  to  be  witnesses  that 
I  had  insulted  her,  and  attacked  her  honour  as  a  re- 
spectable servant.  The  police  replied  that  all  this 
would  be  enquired  into  when  the  case  came  to  be 
investigated. 

The  police  then  withdrew,  leaving  us  in  the  utmost 
state  of  excitement.     The  girl  was  despatched  to  make 
coffee,  and  we  tidied  up  the  rooms,  in  order  that  they 
12 


178  Dr.   Wrenzchen  quite  Affectionate. 

might  recover  some  sort  of  physiognomy.  The  thieves 
did  not  seem  to  have  entered  the  bedroom;  but  when 
we  came  to  look  and  see  whether  one  or  other  miglit 
not  have  crept  under  the  bedsteads,  we  found  Maffi 
Pamph  lying  there  dead,  with  a  cord  round  its  neck. 
They  had  murdered  it,  no  doubt,  amid  cold  smiles. 
Herr  Greve  now  remembered  to  have  heard  the  dog 
barking,  but  had  not  thought  anything  further  about 
the  matter. 

While  we  were  drinking  our  Mocha,  which  the  girl 
brought  in,  casting  a  wrathful  look  at  me,  Uncle  Fritz 
said  :  "  You'll  see,  Wilhelmine,  that  that  girl  will 
bring  an  action  against  you." — "  She  would  never  pre- 
sume to,"  said  I,  laughing  at  the  idea.  "You  were 
more  excited  than  you  had  any  right  to  be,"  said  Carl 
reproachfully.  "  Carl,"  said  I,  "  if  she  had  met  you  as 
she  did  me  about  those  crawfish,  you'd  never  have 
•kept  quiet  so  long.  She  had  to  catch  it  from  me,  and 
that  pretty  smartly." 

Dr.  Wrenzchen  was  most  affectionate  and  gentle  to- 
wards Emmi,  and  declared  it  to  be  a  merciful  dispen- 
sation that  his  wife  should  have  taken  it  into  her  head 
to  pay  us  a  visit  on  that  very  evening,  and  that  a  great 
catastrophe  had  perhaps  been  thus  warded  off. 

"Just  so,"  said  I,  and  smiled  at  Emmi  in  a  knowing 
way.  We  two,  of  course,  knew  all  the  ins  and  outs 
about  that  "dispensation,"  and  how  it  had  been  set  to 
work.  It  had  been  set  agoing  by  Frau  Buchholz,  who 
at  that  moment  was  dipping  a  bit  of  cake  into  her 
coffee. 


Where  is  Eduard?  179 


THE  SCHOOL  OF  LIFE. 

I  HAVE  seen  Frau  Krause  in  various  forms  of  impulsive 
excitement,  but  never  in  such  a  state  as  she  was  the 
other  day  when  she  came  to  us.  "  Is  Eduard  here  ?  " 
she  exclaimed,  "  has  he  been  here  ?  " — "  No,"  I  replied ; 
"has  he  run  away  ?" — "He's  been  away  since  yester- 
day," she  whimpered.  "The  teacher  with  whom  he 
has  been  living  thought  that  we  had  kept  him  at  home 
overnight,  and,  knowing  the  boy  to  be  delicate, 
thought  that  he  might  have  been  feeling  unwell,  as  he 
did  not  appear  at  school-time." — "  I  never  knew  him 
to  be  delicate!" — "You  are  so  unsympathetic,"  she 
exclaimed;  "  but  where  can  he  be  ? — where  can  he  be  ?  " 
— "  He'll  turn  up  all  right,"  said  I,  by  way  of  consoling 
her.  "  Have  you  set  the  police  to  work  to  find  him  ? " 
— "  My  husband  is  having  a  search  made;  placards  are 
being  posted  on  the  advertisement-pillars,  and  notices 
put  in  the  papers,  whatever  it  may  cost.  If  only  some 
misfortune  has  not  befallen  him  !  " — "  Let  us  hope 
not,"  said  I;  "but  now,  Frau  Krause,  do  let  me  offer 
you  some  refreshment." — "No,  no,  thank  you;  I  can- 
not rest;  I  must  go  and  try  elsewhere."  And  off  she 
went,  looking  as  troubled  as  when  she  first  came  in. 

What  could  Eduard  have  been  about?  I  felt  con- 
vinced he  must  have  invented  some  special  piece  of 
mischief,  for  he  was  ever  doing  what  he  ought  not  to 
do.  Yet  it  would  really  be  a  terrible  thing  if,  after 
all,  some  misfortune  had  run  up  against  him,  for  the 
Krauses  have  but  the  one  child.  However,  I  could 
not  think  this  likely;  such  weeds  are  not  apt  to  disap- 
Dear.     Yet,  where  could  he  be  ? 

Yes,  where  was  he  ?  This  question  was  not  merely 
asked  by  the  sorrowing  parents,  by  the  yellow  plac- 


l8o  About  Books. 


ards  on  the  advertisement-pillars,  and  by  the  para- 
graph among  the  local  occurrences  in  the  newspapers. 
A  number  of  other  people,  too,  would  have  liked  to 
know,  either  from  curiosity  or  by  way  of  receiving  the 
reward  offered  for  information  on  the  subject.  All  ea- 
quiries,  however,  proved  in  vain,  for  Eduard  was  not 
to  be  found  in  Berlin.  He  had  clearly  made  off  some- 
where. 

If  there  was  anything  Eduard  disliked  in  the  world 
it  was  Latin  and  Greek,  He  could  not  see  what  use 
there  was  in  scribbling  hieroglyphics  on  paper,  and 
placing  accents  on  the  top  of  syllables,  when  he  was 
himself  perfectly  indifferent  as  to  whether  they  were 
long  or  short.  There  seemed  no  sense  in  it  to  him. 
As  little  did  he  care  into  how  many  provinces  Gaul 
was  divided  by  Csesar.  When  his  history  lesson  was 
beginning  to  get  interesting,  when  the  Romans  were 
bravely  fighting  their  enemies,  the  teacher  would  tor- 
ment the  class  by  enquiring  into  the  relations  of  this 
or  that  vowel;  and  thus  in  place  of  hearing  which 
army  won  the  pending  victory,  in  the  hand  to  hand 
fight,  the  boys  had  to  set  about  declining  and  conju- 
gating words,  and  then  some  in  the  class  would  suffer 
more  disgraceful  defeats  than  any  mentioned  in  the 
Gallic  wars.  Eduard  has  specially  good  reasons  for 
not  considering  Julius  Caesar  his  friend. 

There  were  other  books,  however,  that  the  boy  liked 
immensely,  much  better  than  the  remarkable  doings 
of  the  ancients,  and  these  he  read  with  enthusia::^tic 
delight.  They  told  him  of  distant  countries,  of  forests 
of  palm  and  fruit  trees,  where  were  to  be  found  quan- 
tities of  parrots  and  glow-worms  as  large  as  one's 
hand.  Adventures  might  be  had  there  with  wild  men 
and  animals,  that  always  ended  in  favour  of  the  white 
man;    and  deeds  so  daring  were  told  that  he  could 


Eduard's  Casth'S  in  the  Air.  l8l 

scarcely  read  quick  enough  to  learn  how  it  all  ended. 
Greatly  would  he  have  liked  to  have  a  trained  ostrich 
to  ride  upon,  such  as  was  described  in  one  of  his 
books.  How  his  boy  friends  Vv'ould  stare  in  amaze- 
ment !  Not  one  of  them  would  be  able  to  overtake 
him,  for  an  ostrich  is  such  a  fearfully  swift  creature. 
He  could  have  guided  it  with  reins  between  its  beak. 
A  tame  jaguar,  too,  he  would  have  liked  to  have,  to 
run  about  after  him  like  a  dog.  If  any  one  then  had 
dared  to  interfere  with  them,  the  jaguar  would  have 
stood  by  him;  they  might  all  come  after  him,  the  jag- 
uar wouldn't  have  allov/ed  any  one  to  touch  him.  A 
bow  and  arrows,  also,  he  would  have  carried  by  him; 
with  these  he  could  have  shot  right  into  the  top  school- 
room window.  Then,  if  the  janitor  had  appeared,  he 
would  have  jumped  on  to  his  ostrich,  his  jaguar  fol- 
io vving,  and  away  he  would  have  been  across  the  hills 
before  any  one  had  caught  sight  of  him. 

He  had  often  liked  thinking  about  such  things,  when 
kept  in  after  school  hours.  And  these  thoughts  did  not 
remain  a  mere  wish.  The  longing  to  experience  for  him- 
self what  he  read  about,  became  a  burning  desire;  he  felt, 
in  fact,  that  he  must  be  off  out  into  the  wide  world.  Here, 
in  Berlin,  everything  seemed  against  him.  The  teachers 
were  unjust,  and  showed  a  preference  for  other  boys; 
and  he  wouldn't  condescend  to  sneak  into  their  favour 
by  becoming  a  milksop,  like  those  in  the  front  rows. 
He  wasn't  going  to  fawn  and  flatter.  Off,  therefore, 
he'd  better  go. 

Across  the  plains  of  Northern  Germany  sped  the 
night  train  that  leaves  Berlin  at  ii  o'clock,  arriving  in 
Hamburg  towards  6  in  the  morning.  It  rushed  past 
quiet  places,  it  whizzed  across  the  moorland,  over 
which  the  moonlight  was  spinning  a  haze  that  seemed 
to  become  minofled  with  the  distance.     From  time  to 


1 82  A  Journey  to  Hamburg. 

time  bright  lights  became  visible,  these  were  the  lan- 
terns on  solitary  stations  which  the  steam-horse 
greeted  with  a  shrill  whistle,  although  it  could  not 
make  a  halt.  At  some  places,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  iron  creature  got  a  drink,  an  immense  quantity 
of  boiling  water,  and  whilst  its  thirst  was  being 
quenched,  men  with  iron  hammers  came  and  knocked 
at  every  axle  and  wheel  in  the  train,  to  hear  by  the 
sound  whether  any  part  had  been  injured,  or  a  break- 
age was  to  be  feared.  Some  of  the  passengers  would 
wake  and  grumble  at  the  noise  which  robbed  them  of 
the  sleep  they  struggled  so  hard  to  get;  others  were 
not  disturbed  by  it,  but  slept  on  in  the  most  uncom- 
fortable of  upright  positions — either  because  they  had 
good  consciences  or  good  nerves. 

In  the  corner  of  one  of  the  third  class  carriages  was 
seated  a  boy,  his  head  resting  against  the  hard  wooden 
partition;  he  was  enveloped  in  the  sound,  refreshing 
sleep  of  childhood.  A  smile  was  fiittirvg  round  his 
mouth,  so  that  any  one  not  knowing  who  he  was,  might 
have  fancied  that  kindly  angels  on  purple-edged  clouds 
were  playing  with  the  sleeper,  and  that  the  reflection 
of  their  brightness  might  be  seen  in  the  boy's  face. 
Any  one  with  such  thoughts  would  have  been  greatly 
astonished  had  it  been  possible  for  him  to  take  part  in 
the  boy's  dream;  for,  in  place  of  being  in  the  company 
of  lovely,  angelic  beings,  he  would  have  found  himself 
transported  into  the  midst  of  the  excitement  of  a  tiger- 
hunt.  As  young  Krause's  thoughts  had  latterly  been 
more  occupied  with  tigers  and  jaguars  than  with  celes- 
tial creatures,  it  was  natural  enough  that  in  his  sleep 
he  should  have  dreamt  of  the  things  that  filled  his 
thoughts  when  awake.  The  crack  of  the  hammers  on 
the  axles  of  the  wheels,  probably  aroused  in  the  mind 
of  the   deeply  slumbering  bov  the  idea  of  gunshots, 


I  How  Ed2(a7'd  purchased  his   Ticket.  183 

while  the  tiger  would  be  speedily  added  by  the  quick 
fancy  of  the  dreamer. 

Eduard  was,  in  fact,  carrying  out  his  long-cherished 
plan.  He  had  kept  his  pocket-money — both  that  given 
him  formally  by  his  father,  as  well  as  the  very  secret 
and  much  more  abundant  supply  from  his  mother — all 
the  more  carefully,  as  he  had  learned  from  experience 
that  commercial  pursuits  are  useless  without  success, 
and  his  first  attempt  to  acquire  capital  at  the  Christ- 
mas fair  had  proved  an  utter  failure.  Perhaps  he  did 
not  possess  one  of  those  lucky  pennies  with  which  so 
man}^  have  come  to  Berlin  in  rags  and  wretchedness, 
to  become  millionaires  in  a  few  years,  finding  life  then, 
however,  tolerable  only  upon  india-rubber  tires — or, 
perhaps,  he  did  not  possess  the  requisite  talent.  His 
business  speculation  in  cigars  (in  which  he  had  made 
his  father  unwittingly  take  part)  was  not  a  success, 
whereas  his  savings  bank  was  flourishing.  When 
threatening  clouds  overcast  his  school-heaven,  his 
savings  were  almost  enough  to  purchase  a  railway 
ticket  to  Hamburg,  as  he  discovered  in  the  Berlin  A  B 
C  guide  for  travellers.  Then,  too,  his  watch  was  worth 
a  few  half-crown  pieces.  So  he  broke  down  the  bridges 
in  his  rear  by  selling  his  watch  as  well  as  the  detested 
Latin  and  Greek  books  of  torment,  together  with  the 
respective  lexicons;  this  piece  of  business  was  transact- 
ed with  a  dealer  in  second-hand  articles,  who,  to  their 
mutual  sorrow,  could  offer  but  a  very  low  price  for 
them,  as  he  had  already  too  much  of  the  same  sort  of 
things  to  dispose  of.  The  boy,  however,  took  what 
was  offered  with  a  light  heart,  thinking:  I  shall  not 
require  much  money;  when  I  get  to  Hamburg  I  shall 
at  once  go  to  sea  as  a  cabin  boy.  What  fun  it  will  be  sit- 
ting high  up  on  the  mast  and  crying  out.  Land  !  land 
ahead  !  when  the  coast  comes  in  sight,  where  the  na- 


184  '^Always  boldly  forward." 

tives  are  all  black.  Hurrah  !  What  fun  !  The  boy 
meant  to  write  home  on  board  ship — more  seemed  to 
him  superfluous. 

When  morning  began  to  dawn,  sleep  and  dreams 
departed.  The  boy  saw  the  sun  rise  on  the  golden 
edge  of  the  horizon — coming  up  in  brilliant  splendour- 
This  was  a  new  sight  to  him.  His  fellow  passengers 
woke  also.  They  asked  him  where  he  was  going  to. 
To  Hamburg.  Had  he  relatives  there  ?  Yes,  he  said 
untruthfully.  Whereabouts  did  they  live  ?  Close  to  the 
ships.  Did  he  mean  the  harbour  ?  Yes;  what  was  the 
best  way  of  getting  there  ?  On  leaving  the  station,  if 
he  kept  straight  on  by  Hofer's  Hotel,  and  then  turned 
to  the  left,  he  could  not  fail  to  find  it.  Any  one  would 
be  glad  to  tell  him  the  way  if  he  asked;  he  must  not 
hesitate,  but  ask  boldly.  That  was  splendid  advice. 
Be  sure  not  to  hesitate  !    Always  boldly  forward  ! 

The  flat  moorland  came  to  an  end,  wooded  hills  ap- 
peared to  the  right  and  left  of  the  railwa}'',  and  the 
light  of  the  morning  sun  played  amid  the  young  green 
leaves  of  the  beeches.  Thereupon  the  woods  receded 
to  make  room  for  a  river  which  cut  its  course  through 
the  rich  meadows  in  graceful  windings.  ''  Is  that  the 
Elbe  ?  "  asked  Eduard. — "  No,"  answered  one  of  his 
fellow  travellers,  smiling,  *'  that's  the  Bille.  We're 
just  coming  to  Friedrichsruh,  look  !  "  Eduard  saw 
this  castle  of  Prince  Bismarck's  ;  the  train  passed 
quite  close  to  it.  Then  a  short  halt  was  made  at 
Bergedorf.  Women  in  curious  attire  came  up  to  the 
carriages  offering  flowers  and  fruits.  The  boy  was 
told  that  these  were  Vierlander  women.  "What  a 
strange  world  it  is,"  thought  Eduard  ;  "  what  wonder- 
ful things  I  shall  see  when  I  get  to  distant  lands  !  " 

At  last  the  train  stopped  beneath  a  huge  vaulted 
roof ;  it  was  the  Hamburg  station. 


Looking  for  the  Ships.  185 

Every  one  hurried  towards  the  way  out,  and  the 
stream  of  human  beings  carried  Eduard  out  too.  On 
getting  outside,  the  boy  stood  for  a  moment  in  doubt 
as  to  which  way  he  should  go,  but  soon  discovered 
the  words  Hofer's  Hotel  written  in  large  letters  on  a 
fine-looking  building.  Now  he  knew  what  to  do,  and 
walked  bravely  onwards.  He  did  as  he  had  been  told 
to  do,  and  turned  off  to  the  left  ;  after  a  short  v/alk 
he  reached  a  market  place  where  Vierlander  men  and 
women,  in  their  peculiar  dress,  were  selling  vege- 
tables.    He  had  never  seen  such  people  in  Berlin. 

He  asked  his  way  to  the  harbour  and  got  an  answer  ; 
but  although  he  listened  attentively  the  answer  was 
utterly  unintelligible  to  him.  Latin  he  had  learnt, 
but  did  not  know  anything  about  Low  German.  Was 
his  journey  round  the  world  going  to  present  unex- 
pected difficulties  after  all  ?  No,  no.  Only  boldly  for- 
ward.   And,  trusting  to  luck,  on  he  went. 

He  crossed  bridges  that  led  across  narrow  canals 
where  men  were  pushing  heavily  laden  barges  slowly 
forv/ards.  On  both  sides  of  the  canal  gabled  houses 
rose  straight  out  of  the  water.  He  asked  if  this  was 
the  harbour.  "  No,  thur  be  the  Fleeth,"  was  the 
answer,  and  Eduard  was  as  wise  as  before. 

At  last,  however,  he  gained  his  object ;  he  came  in 
sight  of  the  tops  of  masts,  the  lower  parts  of  the 
ships  were  hidden  from  view  by  a  long  low  building. 
The  gateway  was  open,  and  as  no  one  interfered  he 
walked  in.  There  lay  numbers  of  ships  of  all  sizes, 
such  as  he  had  never  seen  before.  And  huge  steam 
cranes  stretched  out  their  iron  arms  ;  boxes,  bales, 
and  sacks  were  fastened  to  the  chains,  and  the 
cranes  raised  their  burdens,  turned,  and  again  slowly 
laid  their  prey  down,  just  like  rational  creatures.  As 
far  as  bis  eyes  could  see,  these  strange  machines  were 


1 86  Editard  applies  for  a  Position, 

at  work  unloading  the  ships  ;  sturdy-looking  men 
stood  ready  to  receive  the  bales,  and  piled  them  up 
into  endless  heaps.  He  asked  one  of  them  whether 
this  was  the  harbour.  This  is  the  quay,  was  the  reply, 
the  harbour  is  further  on.  Keep  to  the  right  and 
across  the  bridge  yonder,  and  you  will  see  it  right  in 
front  of  you. 

There  was  the  harbour.  His  heart  beat  fast  at  the 
unexpected  sight.  Numberless  masts  rose  out  of  the 
water  like  a  very  forest.  The  vessels  lay  close  along- 
side of  one  another  ;  and  upon  the  narrow  channels 
of  water  not  occupied  by  ships,  quick  little  boats  and 
swift  little  steam-tugs  kept  plying  to  and  fro.  Slowly 
he  went  on  his  way,  his  eyes  steadfastly  fixed  upon 
the  floating  city.     How  vast  it  was  !     How  immense. 

Gradually,  however,  hunger  began  to  make  itself 
felt.  The  boy  walked  into  a  sailor's  tavern  and  asked 
for  breakfast.  What  he  got  was  good  :  a  large  cup  of 
coffee,  black  bread,  and  fresh  butter.  All  this  was 
much  better  than  in  Berlin.  At  a  side  table  were  sit- 
ting some  sailors,  one  of  whom  was  addressed  as 
"captain."  The  boy  thought  to  himself  :  "  I  wonder 
whether  he  could  make  use  of  me  as  a  cabin  boy  ?  I 
will  ask  him.     Boldly  out  with  it  !  " 

The  sailor,  at  first,  did  not  seem  to  understand  what 
the  boy  wanted.  When  he  did  make  out  what  the 
boy's  wish  was,  he  saM  :  "  So  you  want  to  go  to  sea  } 
Have  you  got  your  father's  consent  ? "  Eduard  was 
silent.  "  Or  your  guardian's  ?"  continued  the  man. — 
"No,"  muttered  the  boy. — "Then  go  home  again,  my 
boy,  that's  the  best  thing  you  can  do." 

Greatly  disappointed,  Eduard  left  the  tavern. 
"  Home  !  "  He  couldn't  possibly  go  home  now.  His 
watch  and  the  books  he  had  sold  alone  made  that  im- 
possible.    He  would  probably  find  some  other  captain 


and  Becomes  Discouraged.  187 

more  kindly  disposed  towards  him.  There  were  so 
many  ships  ! 

Not  quite  so  hopeful  as  before,  Eduard  sauntered 
away  along  by  the  harbour.  Where  could  he  find  the 
right  sort  of  captain  ?  He  had  fancied  that  all  he 
would  need  to  do  was  to  go  on  board  some  ship,  state 
his  wish,  in  order  at  once  joyfully  to  obtain  the  work 
he  wanted.  But  there  lay  the  ships  out  on  the  water, 
and  he  was  on  land  !  After  a  while  he  resolved  to 
speak  to  a  sailor.  Accident  led  him  to  address  an 
Englishman,  who  did  not  even  condescend  to  look  at 
him,  and  the  boy's  endeavour  to  obtain  advice  failed 
utterly.     This  discouraged  him  very  much. 

The  harbour  now  offered  him  but  little  pleasure,  so 
he  turned  aside  into  a  road  that  led  up  hill.  On  reach- 
ing the  top  he  found  people  sitting  on  benches  under 
the  shade  of  trees,  and  he  determined  to  rest  here 
himself. 

From  this  hill  he  had  a  view  down  upon  the  proud 
river  Elbe,  away  into  the  blue  distance  beyond  the 
opposite  bank,  and  down  upon  the  busy  life  of  the 
town  immediately  below  him.  One  large  steamer 
seemed  just  to  be  starting,  majestically  it  ploughed  its 
way  through  the  water,  away  towards  the  great  ocean. 
Smaller  steamers,  sailing  ships,  and  boats  of  all  kinds 
were  coming  in  and  going  out ;  how  was  it  he  could 
not  obtain  a  place  in  any  one  of  them  ?  His  longing 
to  be  off  somewhere  became  greater  than  ever,  and  he 
could  scarcely  endure  to  look  at  the  v.iew  before  him. 
A  feeling  of  restlessness  drove  him  onwards. 

Without  knowing  where  the  road  led  to,  he  walked 
on,  and  soon  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  way  was  well 
chosen,  for  he  came  to  a  very  pleasant  looking  place, 
with  a  number  of  booths  of  every  description  and 
sights  worth  seeing.     He  was  asked  to  go  and  look  at 


1 88  An  Empty  Purse, 


a  menagerie.  That  he  could  not  resist.  A  merry-go- 
round,  too,  was  a  thing  not  to  be  despised.  What 
could  there  be  better  for  him  to  do  than  to  have  a  ride 
on  a  lion?  Hamburg  was  assuredly  a  magnificent 
town  !  After  he  had  more  rides  on  the  merry-go- 
round  than  ever  before  in  his  life,  he  turned  into  a  re- 
freshment room  to  have  something  to  eat.  His  savings 
were,  it  is  true,  rapidly  dwindling  away,  but  a  cocoa- 
nut  he  must  have,  and  a  few  shells.  They  were  being 
sold  in  the  streets,  arranged  in  tempting  rows  on 
trundles. 

Later  in  the  afternoon  the  place  became  more  lively 
still,  a  puppet  show  was  given,  a  bear  was  made  to 
perform  its  antics ;  the  theatre  in  the  square  was 
opened  ;  on  all  sides  wonderful  things  were  to  be 
seen,  and  great  numbers  of  people  flocked  together. 
Eduard  no  longer  thought  about  captains. 

Then,  however,  night  set  in.  The  crowds  dispersed. 
Every  one  went  off  home.  Where  was  he  to  go  to  ? 
His  purse  was  empty;  his  day's  enjoyment  had  run 
away  with  every  farthing  he  possessed. 

Perhaps  he  might  yet  find  the  man  he  wanted  at  the 
harbour.  He  set  off  down  the  avenue  by  which  he 
fancied  he  had  come  in  the  morning.  Straight  ahead, 
he  could  not  fail  to  come  to  the  Elbe. 

Had  he  missed  his  way  ?  There  seemed  no  end  to 
the  avenue.  On  and  on  he  went,  then  stood  still  :  "  I 
never  was  here  before  !  Where  can  I  have  got  to  ? 
Never  mind  !     Boldly  forward  !  " 

Was  not  that  the  river  gleaming  over  there  ?  It 
must  be  the  harbour  !  A  few  paces  more,  and  again 
he  stood  still.  In  front  of  him  glistened  a  large  ex- 
panse of  water;  the  moon  and  stars  were  reflected  in 
it,  and  the  gas  lamps  along  the  shores  glimmered  in 
the  water  in  long  streaks  of  light.     Beyond,  the  houses 


and  Alone  in  a  Strange  Place.  189 

rose  like  a  dark  wall,  and  towers  rose  up  higher  still 
into  the  dark  sky. 

"I  will  stay  here,"  he  whispered  to  himself;  "over 
yonder,  among  the  shrubs,  I  can  find  shelter." 

He  soon  found  what  he  wanted.  A  bench  offered 
him  a  resting  place. 

He  sat  down,  and  gazed  out  over  a  second  and  larger 
sheet  of  water  that  lay  there  as  if  asleep.  The  boy, 
however,  could  not  sleep;  he  felt  so  alone  in  that  strange 
place,  so  forsaken. 

He  was  very  cold  too,  for  the  night  was  chilly,  and 
he  v;as  hungry  as  well.  The  hours  seemed  endlessly 
long.  When  the  clocks  in  the  towers  struck  the  hours, 
and  the  sounds  reverberated  through  the  night,  he 
would  count  them,  and  heard  how  the  one  clock  began 
first  and  the  others  followed.  From  time  to  time  long- 
drawn  weird  sounds  reached  him,  like  fearful  moans 
of  anguish.  These  were  the  eerie  sounds  of  the  fog- 
signals  from  the  steamers  leaving  the  harbour;  they 
seemed  like  the  wailings  of  some  terrible  sorrow,  as  of 
farewell  tears  and  the  loud  moanings  of  homesickness, 
and  as  they  came  across  the  waste  through  the  silent 
night,  they  found  an  echo  in  the  boy's  desolate  heart. 

How  gladly  he  would  now  have  been  back  in  Berlin. 

He  wondered  whether  he  could  get  back  on  foot  ? 
He  fancied  that  he  could  find  his  way.  But  the  re- 
ception that  awaited  nim  at  home,  and  the  jeers  of  his 
school-fellows  !  He  clenched  his  hands  :  "  I  will  not 
go  back." 

Finally  he  was  overcome  by  weariness,  but  after  a 
short  sleep  the  sky  began  to  brighten,  and  he  was 
awakened  by  the  chilly  breath  of  early  morning. 
Eduard  was  shivering,  and  the  feeling  of  hunger  be- 
came more  and  more  unbearable.  He  searched  his 
pockets,  but  could  not  find  any  stray  coin.     There  was 


190  In  desperate  Straits. 

the  cocoa-nut,  however— he  had  forgotten  it  !  How 
was  he  to  get  at  the  tasty  kernel,  and  the  milk  which 
the  savages  lived  upon  ?  Fortunately,  on  the  previous 
afternoon  he  had  bought  a  knife,  and  this  would 
prove  useful  now.  Eagerly  he  set  about  peeling  off 
the  fibres.  What  a  difficult  piece  of  work  !  He  man- 
aged it  at  last,  however,  but  his  forehead  was  wet 
with  perspiration  before  he  had  removed  all  the  tough 
mass.  The  next  thing  to^be  done  was  to  open  the 
hard  shell;  but  his  knife  made  no  impression  upon  it, 
and  always  slipped  off,  however  much  he  tried  to 
prevent  it.  Then  he  tried  to  break  it  on  a  stone,  but 
found  he  hadn't  sufficient  strength,  the  nut  remained 
persistently  whole.  A  cunning  thought  struck  him  : 
'*  I'll  sell  the  nut  and  buy  bread  with  what  I  get  for  it." 
He  could  quench  his  thirst  with  water  from  the  Alster, 
and  the  largest  of  the  foreign  shells  would  make  a 
capital  scoop.  Savages,  no  doubt,  did  this  too;  but 
where  were  the  savages?  And  where  was  he?  He 
threw  his  shell  away  in  the  river  when  he  had  finished 
with  it.  His  adventurous  spirit  seemed  to  be  vanish- 
ing. 

Meanwhile  the  town  had  become  full  of  life;  swift 
steamboats  kept  passing  under  the  broad  arches  of  the 
bridges,  near  which  Eduard  had  spent  the  night;  rail- 
way trains  were  running  over  ihem,  tramcars,  too,  and 
other  vehicles.  Foot-passengers  were  taking  healthy 
exercise  in  the  prettily  laid  out  boulevards,  and  busi- 
ness men  were  hurrying  citywards.  Eduard,  too,  de- 
termined to  seek  his  fortune  in  this  famous  mercantile 
city. 

He  offered  his  cocoa-nut  to  the  passers-by,  but  they 
had  clearly  no  great  desire  to  buy  it ;  most  of  them, 
too,  seemed  to  have  no  time  to  stop  even.  To  the  boy 
it  seemed  as  if  all  the  Hamburg  people  were  in  a  furi- 


The  Riiimzvay  Caiight.  191 

ous  hurry.  A  little  way  off,  however,  stood  a  man  who 
did  not  appear  to  be  taking  part  in  the  universal  race; 
perhaps  he  might  be  persuaded  to  buy  the  nut.  He 
would  go  and  tell  the  man  how  hungry  he  was. 

The  gentleman  did  not  refuse  to  listen  to  the  boy; 
on  the  contrary,  he  enquired  sympathetically  as  to 
where  he  had  come  from,  and  where  he  was  going, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  had  succeeded  in  winning  Ed- 
uard's  confidence.  In  fact,  Eduard  even  summoned  up 
courage  to  ask  him  whether  he  knew  any  captain  who 
needed  a  cabin  boy.  The  gentleman  answered  that 
this  might  perhaps  be  managed.  "  Give  me  vour  hand, 
my  boy,  I  will  take  you  to  one."  Who  could  be  hap- 
pier than  Eduard  at  that  moment  ! 

The  gentleman  was  inquisitive,  that  could  not  be 
denied.  He  wanted  to  know  where  Eduard  had  spent 
the  night.  "  In  the  open  air,"  answered  the  boy,  with 
hesitation. — "Have  you  got  no  more  money?" — "I've 
nothing  but  this  nut." — "And  you  are  hungry?" — 
"Very." — "You'll  get  something  to  eat  very  soon. 
Have  a  little  patience." 

This  comforting  prospect  absorbed  Eduard's  whole 
attention,  but  still  he  did  notice  that  some  of  the 
people  hurrying  stopped  for  a  moment  and  looked  at 
him  in  a  curious  way,  some  smiled  in  a  sneering  kind 
of  manner,  others  seemed  to  pity  him.  And  the  gen- 
tleman was  meanwhile  holding  his  hand  so  peculiarly 
tight.  "Where  are  we  going?"  Eduard  asked  doubt- 
fully.— "  Here  we  are  already,"  replied  his  companion. 
They  had  halted  in  front  of  a  large,  plain-looking  build- 
ing of  a  somewhat  unpleasant  appearance.  The  gen- 
tleman pulled  a  bell-handle,  and  the  heavy  door  opened 
and  closed  behind  them  at  once.  In  the  same  manner 
they  passed  a  second  iron  gateuay. 

"Here,  I  bring  you  a  runaway,"  said  the  friendly- 


192  Ediiard  Repentant, 

looking  gentleman,  and  leading  Eduard  into  a  room 
wlicre  he  had  to  answer  a  number  of  questions.  He 
confessed  everything— everything.  "  If  you  have  spoken 
the  truth  j'ou  will  be  kept  here  but  a  short  time;  we 
shall  write  to  your  father." — "  Oh,  don't,  don't !  "  en- 
treated poor  Eduard. — "There's  no  other  way,  my  boy; 
and  now  come,  we  have  comfortable  quarters  for  you 
here.  Sleeping  in  the  open  air  is  not  good  for  any 
one."  The  inspector  gave  him  a  sign,  and  without  any 
resistance,  Eduard  followed  him  into  a  large  airy  pass- 
age, with  yellovv'^-coloured  walls,  and  thence  up  a  broad 
staircase.  Here  the  official  opened  a  barred  doorway 
that  led  into  a  corridor,  on  the  one  side  of  which  w^as 
the  room  which  Eduard  was  told  he  was  to  occupy.  It 
was  lofty  and  clean,  but  the  iron  bars  in  front  of  the 
window  gave  the  room  a  desperately  unhomelike  ap- 
pearance. "  Over  there  on  the  wall  are  the  rules  w'hich 
you  will  have  to  observe.  When  any  one  of  the  officials 
come  in,  you  are  to  stand  up  and  to  remain  respectful- 
ly standing  while  he  is  in  the  room.  The  orders  for 
the  day  must  be  punctually  attended  to,  and  any  in- 
jury done  to  the  room  will  be  punished.  You  can 
write  to  your  relatives,  and  I  would  advise  you  to  do 
so.  First  of  all  you  shall  have  some  breakfast,  after 
that  you  will  have  some  work  given  you." 

The  door  closed,  and  was  then  locked  and  barred. 

Eduard  w^as  left  alone.  Utterly  crushed,  he  threw 
himself  upon  the  bed.  His  wilfulness  was  broken, 
and  repentance  came  over  him.     Bitter  repentance. 

An  official  brought  him  a  basin  of  steaming  soup, 
with  a  slice  of  bread  ;  never  had  anything  tasted  bet- 
ter to  him,  not  even  at  home  when  on  festive  occasions 
some  extra  good  dish  was  generally  prepared.  A 
basket,  too,  was  brought  to  him  containing  pieces  of 
tarred    rope,  which    he    was  told   to   fray  out    till    it 


and  Hor?'iJied.  193 

became  oakum.  He  was  expressly  warned  to  be 
diligent. 

So  Eduard  had  set  to  work  picking  oakum.  While 
his  hands  were  busy  his  thoughts  flew  hither  and 
thither.  They  took  him  to  Berlin,  where  he  had  never 
been  required  to  work  all  day  long.  How  free  he  had 
been  there,  comparatively  !  Why  had  he  left  home  ? 
How  well  off  he  had  been  there  !  When  school  was 
over  he  had  been  allowed  to  go  out  for  a  country  walk. 
His  parents  had  taken  him  wherever  they  went.  With 
his  father  he  had  gone  out  butterfly-hunting,  even  on 
that  day — he  suddenly  stopped  in  his  work,  and  stared 
blankly  in  front  of  him.  He  fancied  he  saw  a  boy 
standing  by  him  on  a  pier,  and  then  suddenly  disap- 
pear. Eduard  gave  a  low  cry,  and  covered  his  face 
with  his  hands.     He  was  horrified  at  himself. 

But  from  the  basket  arose  a  peculiar  smell  of  tar, 
which  again  brought  up  before  his  mind  the  Hamburg 
harbour,  and  this  renewed  in  him  the  desire  to  sail 
out  into  the  wide  world  with  a  fresh  breeze.  The 
sight  of  the  water  and  ships  had  bewitched  him,  and 
he  felt  he  should  never  again  be  content  away  from 
them. 

Two  days  afterwards  his  father  came  to  fetch  him. 
Eduard  listened  submissively  to  all  his  father's  re- 
proaches. One  request  only  did  he  make  :  not  to  be 
sent  back  to  the  High  School. 

"  What  is  to  become  of  you,  if  you  will  not  study  ? " 
said  the  father. 

"  I  want  to  be  a  sailor." 


13 


1^4  '^^^^  poivcrs  of  Fate. 


TRIALS. 

If  ever  a  preacher  in  the  wilderness  prophesied  rightly, 
it  was  Schiller,  when  he  made  his  classic  quotation  : 
"Yet  with  the  powers  of  fate,  no  eternal  bond  can 
e'er  be  made."  These  words  were  to  come  true  in  my 
own  case,  although,  certainly,  I  do  not  know  how,  or 
where,  I  ever  made  a  compact  with  the  eternal  powers. 
I  have  always  striven  to  do  my  duty,  and  to  be  just 
and  orderly,  but  this  is  no  longer  possible  in  life,  the 
wickedness  of  mankind  is  too  great. 

The  investigations  concerning  the  robbery  at  Dr. 
Wrenzchen's  house  had  been  concluded,  and  had  led 
to  no  further  result  than  that  a  safety  chain  and  a 
new  lock  were  put  on  his  front  door.  The  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  told  me  that  the  robbery  had  been 
done  according  to  the  usual  method  of  house-breakers, 
and  Dr.  Wrenzchen  had  no  choice  but  to  submit  to 
the  loss  of  his  silver.  I  advised  him  to  ask  a  somewhat 
higher  fee  from  his  patients,  so  as  gradually  to  re- 
cover his  loss,  but  this  he  refused  to  do  ;  so  now  they 
take  their  meals  uith  plated  goods,  which  is  in  keep- 
ing with  their  candlesticks. 

The  cook  gave  notice  that  she  wished  to  leave,  and 
to  my  great  relief,  they  did  not  persuade  her  to  re- 
main, especially  as  the  girl  gave  as  her  reason  for 
Avishing  to  leave,  that  she  did  not  mean  on  every  oc- 
casion to  be  pulled  up  by  the  mother-in-law,  and  that, 
moreover,  she  meant  to  show  that  lady  that  there  was 
justice  to  be  had  in  Berlin.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  tried  to 
persuade  the  girl  to  be  reasonable,  but  her  answer 
was  that  she  had  been  called  "a  low  cheat,"  and  that 
she  wasn't  likely  to  forget  that. 

I  myself  doubted  whether  she  could  have  accused 


WilJu'lvii)ie  receives  a  Letter.  195 

me  of  using  such  words  ;  yet  Dr.  Wrenzchen  declared 
he  had  heard  her  say  something  of  the  kind,  amid 
other  invectives,  and  he  came  round  to  ask  me  to  offer 
the  girl  some  compensation  in  money,  so  as  to  induce 
her  not  to  make  any  further  fuss — "  Do  you  mean  to 
think  that  I  would  eat  humble  pie  for  that  wretched 
creature?"  I  answered,  indignantly  ;  "  if  I  were  to  do 
that,  it  would  seem  as  if  I  acknowledged  myself  in  the 
wrong." — "  Do  as  you  please,  dear  mother-in-law,  but 
as  the  girl  was  acquitted  of  the  charge  of  conniving 
.  .  .  ." — ''She's  nevertheless  far  from  being  innocent 
in  my  eyes." — "  I  would  advise  you  to  withdraw  your 
accusations." — "  I  shall  not  demean  myself  by  any  such 
act  of  submission  ;  it  would  be  an  unheard-of  proceed- 
ing for  her  to  bring  an  action  against  me.  It's  per- 
fectly impossible  !  " 

It  proved,  however,  to  be  perfectly  possible.  One 
morning  after  Carl  had  gone  to  his  business,  a  letter 
was  handed  in  for  me,  a  larger  one  than  I  had  ever  re- 
ceived in  my  life  before,  and  its  very  outward  appear- 
ance, the  very  look  of  the  envelope  made  me  suspect 
some  terrible  communication.  With  trembling  hands 
I  subscribed  my  name  to  the  paper  the  postman  had 
handed  in  for  a  receipt,  and  then  I  opened  the  letter. 
Inside  were  the  words  :  Concerning  the  case  of  the 
private  action  presented  by  Maria  Johann  Band, 
spinster,  against  Frau  Wilhelmine  Buchholz  for  abus- 
ive language.  I  could  not  read  a  word  more.  The 
letters  I  could  see,  of  course,  but  could  not  make  the 
slightest  sense  out  of  them,  they  so  danced  before  my 
eyes.  This  alone  seemed  clear,  I  was  summoned  to 
appear  in  court. 

There  was  no  help  for  it,  I  had  to  go  to  Carl,  and 
yet  when  I  stood  before  the  office  door  with  the  letter 
in  my  hand,  I   hadn't   the  courage  to  enter.     I  took 


ig6  A  71  extraordinary  Document. 

hold  of  the  bell,  and  then  let  go  again  ;  I  again  took 
hold  of  it,  but  felt  I  did  not  dare  to  ring.  Carl  had, 
as  yet,  no  idea  what  a  disgrace  was  hanging  over  our 
heads,  and  that  a  public  accusation  had  been  brought 
against  his  hitherto  blameless  wife.  But,  of  course,  I 
could  not  stand  there  for  ever.  I  opened  the  door 
gently  and  tottered  up  to  his  desk.  "  Carl,"  said  I, 
timidly,  "do  read  this  extraordinary  document — it  is 
— it  has — I  can't  understand  it."  Carl  read  the  paper, 
and  his  face  assumed  a  stern  expression.  "This  is 
vexatious,"  he  exclaimed,  "  more  than  vexatious  ! 
There  are  nine  charges." — "Nine?"  I  cried  out  in 
amazement,  interrupting  him. — "  Yes,  nine  several 
points  ;  they  are  mentioned  singly  ;  there,  you  can 
read  it  yourself." — "  Carl,  the  girl's  impertinence  sur- 
passes belief  ;  I  merely  said  that  she  ought  to  have 
taken  more  care." — "Wilhelmine,  you  quite  forgot 
yourself  that  day  in  your  anger." — "  I  said  no  more 
tlian  I  had  a  right  to." — "That  will  be  proved  when 
the  case  is  investigated  !  " — "  Carl,  need  it  come  to 
.hat?" — "Well,  perhaps  it  may  be  settled  without 
your  appearing  at  court.  Before  the  case  is  investi- 
gated an  attempt  might  be  made  to  settle  things 
amicably.  You  will  have  to  admit  having  done  wrong, 
pay  the  girl  some  small  compensation,  and^there's  an 
end  of  it.  Are  you  prepared  to  do  this  ?  " — "  Yes,"  I 
sighed. — "Don't  be  down-hearted,  Wilhelmine,  and  do 
not  worry  unnecessarily ;  but  now,  old  wifie,  you 
must  leave  me,  business  is  very  brisk,  and  I  have  a 
good  deal  to  attend  to." 

Not  to  be  down-hearted  is  easily  enough  prescribed 
but  not  so  easily  managed.  After  that  legal  document 
entered  our  house,  my  life  was  nothing  but  trouble 
and  anxiety  ;  I  felt  as  if  a  guillotine  were  perpetually 
hanging  over  my  head,  and  I  could  hardly  swallow  my 


Wilhclniine  appeals  to   Uncle  Fritz.  197 

food.  I  could  not  get  rid  of  the  thought  that  Carl 
merely  pretended  to  regard  the  matter  lightly,  so  as 
to  conceal  the  terrible  truth  from  me.  One  afternoon, 
therefore,  I  went  to  Uncle  Fritz,  who  is  very  far  from 
being  Carl's  equal  in  kindness  and  consideration,  and 
hence  I  hoped  to  learn  the  true  state  of  affairs  from 
him.  When  he  had  read  the  document,  he  said  : 
"  Wilhelmine,  the  case  is  ticklish.  You  swore  at  the 
girl,  and  she  must  feel  pretty  sure  of  her  case,  for  she 
has  as  witnesses  the  two  policemen  who  were  present, 
also  Herr  Greve  and  his  wife,  and  Dr.  Wrenzchen." — 
"The  Doctor  against  me?" — "It  says  so  here.  He 
can,  of  course,  refuse  to  stand  as  a  witness,  being  your 
son-in-law,  but  who  can  tell  but  that  he  may  not 
choose  to  let  slip  a  lovely  opportunity  of  having  his 
revenge,  once  in  a  way.  You  have  had  your  fling  upon 
him  often  enough  !  " — "  Fritz,  do  you  really  think  him 
capable  of  such  m.alice  ?  " — "  He  might  possibly  be 
mollified  if  you  were  to  promise  for  ever  to  renounce 
your  guardianship  over  him  as  a  mother-in-law." — "  I 
will  promise  no  such  thing,"  I  answered  angrily  ; 
"  now  what  I  want  you  to  tell  me  is  \yhether  you  think 
it  likely  I  shall  lose  the  case." — "You  may  depend 
upon  it,  you  will  ;  for  remember  the  policemen  with 
their  official  oaths  are  against  you."  I  had  often  heard 
of  the  danger  of  official  oaths,  and  that  if  they  were 
against  one,  one's  case  might  be  considered  as  good  as 
lost.  "Fritz,"  said  I,  "what  am  I  to  do?  What  can  I  do?" 
— "  The  one  means  of  escape  you  had,  you  have  un- 
fortunately neglected." — "  I  will  make  up  for  it  now, 
Fritz  ;  only  tell  me  what  I  can  do.  Most  assuredly  I 
will  make  up  for  it  now." — "Well,  you  might  main- 
tain that  you  were  not  sober  on  the  occasion,  and 
plead  extenuating  circumstances." 

That  was  too  much  even  for  my  patience.     "  Oh — 


198  About  the  Pettifogging  Lawyer. 

you — you — cannibal  !  "  I  exclaimed,  flaring  up  ;  "do 
)'ou  hold  nothing  in  reverence,  not  even  your  own  sis- 
ter's tribulation  ?" — "  Come  now,  Wilhelmine,  don't  go 
on  like  that.  Probably  they'll  let  you  off  on  some  of 
the  smaller  points,  and  there's  little  likelihood  of  3'our 
being  sent  to  prison." — "  Carl  quite  expects  the  mat- 
ter can  be  settled  by  accommodation,  what  do  you 
think  ? " — "  If  your  accuser  had  consulted  a  right  sort 
of  solicitor,  possibly  there  might  have  been  a  recon- 
ciliation ;  but  she  seems  to  have  got  hold  of  a  left- 
handed  sort  of  individual;  he  will  probably  persuade 
her  to  carry  matters  to  extremities  to  suit  his  own 
purposes." — "  But  how  will  the  girl  be  able  to  pay  the 
cost  of  it  all  ?  " — "  The  party  that  loses  has  to  fork  out; 
you'll  have  to  do  that,  my  dear." — "  Oh,  how  mean, 
how  shameful  !  To  accuse  me  thus  at  my  own  ex- 
pense. Is  that  justice?"  —  "The  law  precisely."  — 
"  Then  the  law  ought  to  be  upset.  Fritz,  I  shall  never 
survive  this  disgrace  !  My  days  are  numbered  !  " — 
"  Console  yourself,  Wilhelmine  ;  every  second  respect- 
able person  has  been  punished  once  in  their  lives. 
Cheer  up  !  " 

"  Is  that  your  advice  too  !  "  I  exclaimed  bitterly  ; 
"  if  you've  nothing  better  to  say,  you  may  as  well  go 
and  get  yourself  embalmed  !  I  spui-n  such  advice  as 
your  '  cheer  up '  !  "  Winged  with  wrath,  I  left  Uncle 
Fritz,  and  blamed  myself  for  having  exposed  myself 
to  being  the  wretched  target  of  his  taunts.  Yet,  when 
people  lose  their  heads,  they  are  apt  to  act  senselessly. 

Uncle  Fritz  proved  right  about  the  girl's  having  en- 
gaged a  pettifogging  lawyer  ;  he  was  a  regular  cut- 
throatish,  left-handed  kind  of  individual,  so  that  the 
attempt  at  accommodation  ended  in  smoke. 

A  few  days  afterwards  came  another  legal  docu- 
ment, demanding  my  personal  attendance  at  the  Royal 


A    Victim  of  Fate.  199 

Magisterial  Bench  in  Old  Moabit,  No.  ii,  12,  on  Sat- 
urday at  ten  in  the  morning,  Room  29.  And  even 
thougli  I  might  have  thought  of  running  off  some- 
where, what  would  have  been  the  use  ?  The  Court 
threatened,  in  case  of  an  undefended  non-attendance, 
to  bring  up  the  person  by  force  ;  and  rather  than 
grant  to  my  ■  mortal  enemy  the  sight  of  my  being 
dragged  in  before  the  tribunal  between  two  police- 
men, I  resolved  to  appear  of  my  own  free  will,  although 
my  nervous  system  had  completely  collapsed. 

The  upsets  to  my  spirit  were  never  ending.  Heaven 
only  knows  how  people  came  to  know  that  a  public 
action  had  been  brought  against  me;  among  our  own 
acquaintances,  the  one  subject  of  conversation  seemed 
to  be  the  approaching  trial.  Would  it,  otherwise,  ever 
have  occurred  to  Frau  Krause  to  come  and  launch  out 
her  condolences  to  me! — "You  know  now  yourself 
what  it  is  to  be  persecuted  by  fate,  although  you  never 
showed  us  much  sympathy  when  our  Eduard  was  the 
victim." — "Please,  remember,"  said  I,  "that  your 
troubles  were  of  your  own  making;  I  do  not  think 
it  right  of  you  to  make  fate  responsible  for  your 
boy's  mischievous  tricks,  or  to  imagine  that  fate  in- 
duced him  to  run  off  from  home." — "  Eduard  has  such 
a  love  for  investigation." — "  It's  always  in  the  wrong 
direction,  however;  he  never  thinks  of  investigating 
Latin,  for  instance." — "  He  has  chosen  his  profession 
now,  and  won't  require  Latin  any  more,  and  it's  but  a 
dead  language  after  all." — "  May  I  ask  for  what  pro- 
fession he  has  shown  a  preference  ?  A  confectioner's, 
perhaps,  so  that  he  can  stuff  himself  !  "  Frau  Krause 
smiled  in  a  sneering  way,  and  said  :  "  Eduard  means 
to  be  a  naval  captain,  and  some  day  he'll  have  a  hand- 
some salary;  and  captains  are  always  very  much  re- 
spected.    He  has  bought  himself  a  compass  already, 


200  A    Visit  of  Condolence. 

and  up  in  our  loft  he  climbs  about  the  clothes-lines  in 
an  astonishing  way.  A  captain's  post  is  the  very  thing 
for  him."—"  He's  not  one  yet,  nor  do  I  believe  he'll  ever 
be  one,"  said  I. — "That's  because  you  alwa3-s  think 
you  know  better  than  other  people,"  she  replied  hotly; 
"  but  your  wisdom  is  not  infallible,  else  you'd  never 
have  spoken  punishable  words,  I  should  think."  - 
"That's  a  subject  you  do  not  understand,"  I  answered 
excitedly.  "  Very  possibly,"  she  replied  snappishly; 
"  I  only  repeat  what  people  say,  I  would  not  venture  to 
pronounce  judgment,  for  we've  never  yet  had  anything 
to  do  with  law  courts."  When  she  had  gone,  I  said 
to  Betti :  "  She  has  shown  herself  in  her  true  colours. 
Never  let  her  come  in  again;  my  unhappiness  is  too 
great  for  such  hyenas  to  come  and  feed  upon  it." 

The  following  day  I  had  a  visit  of  condolence  from 
the  Police-lieutenant's  wife. — "  Much  depends  upon 
the  judge,"  she  said,  "  and  the  way  you  represent  the 
case.  What  are  you  going  to  wear?" — "Simple 
black,"  I  replied. — "  The  less  showy  the  better,  in 
order  that  the  distinction  between  you  and  the  plaintiff 
is  not  made  to  appear  too  great,  and  your  higher 
social  position  is  not  considered  an  aggravating  cir- 
cumstance. The  coat  of  arms  you  were  having  em- 
broidered will  not  be  of  much  use  to  you  in  the  dock." 
— "  I  never  thought  it  would.  When  we  keep  our  car- 
riage I  meant  to  have  it  painted  on  the  door." — "And 
I  only  meant  to  say  that  ancestors  and  emblems  will 
not  be  of  much  use  if  you  are  found  guilty;  such  dis- 
grace sticks  to  one  for  ever," — "  We've  not  got  that 
length,  however,"  I  remarked. — "  But  you  will  surely 
admit  that  my  husband  knows  something  about  such 
matters,  and  he  said  that  the  thunder-bolt  was  as  good 
as  down  upon  you  already.  Yet  we  are  above  all  pre- 
judice, and  I  may  add  that   1"  do  not   see  any  reason 


The  Clouds   TJiickefi.  201 

why  we  need  give  up  our  old  intercourse  with  you." 
In  the  eyes  of  the  world,  therefore,  I  was  already  con- 
demned. I  felt  positive  the  Police-lieutenant's  wife 
would  never  again  drive  us  out  to  the  Grunewald. 
Henceforth  I  should  be  one  of  the  outcasts  of  society. 

This  thought  robbed  me  of  all  the  sustaining  power 
I  had  left.  After  this  I  could  do  nothing  but  creep 
about  the  house  if  I  wanted  exercise.  I  hadn't  even 
the  heart  to  sit  at  the  window,  for  it  seemed  to  me  as 
if  the  passers-by  pointed  at  me  with  their  fingers. 
Betti  tried  to  persuade  me  that  this  was  a  delusion; 
but  one  day,  with  my  own  eyes,  I  saw  Frau  Heimreich 
walking  up  and  down  the  other  side  of  the  street  with 
her  eldest  girl,  and  casting  spiteful  glances  up  at  our 
windows.  That  was  intolerable  to  me.  I  became 
more  and  more  of  a  sufferer,  and  it  was,  at  last,  so  im- 
possible for  me  to  get  any  sleep  that  Carl  had  to  have 
a  bed  made  up  in  another  room  as  his  snoring  dis- 
turbed me  so. 

Frau  Bergfeldt,  too,  paid  me  a  visit;  however,  I  can- 
not say  that  she  cheered  me  up,  rather  the  contrary. — 
"  Good  gracious,  Frau  Buchholz,  to  think  of  your 
having  got  into  the  frying-pan  !  But  why  need  you 
have  struck  about  you  so  with  the  poker  ?  " — "  What 
sort  of  speech  is  that  to  me  ?  "  said  I  indignantly. — 
"  Well,  it's  said  you  belaboured  the  girl  so,  that  a 
bloody  head  was  the  end  of  it.  So  you'll  certainly  get 
six  months." — "  There's  not  a  word  about  blows  in  the 
matter;  how  can  you  talk  such  rubbish  ?  " — "  I'm  sorry 
for  you,  Frau  Buchholz,  but  that's  what  the  whole 
town  is  sa3ang;  yet  wherever  I  go  I  take  your  part,  and 
say:  'It's  a  mercy  the  cook  had  a  thick  skull,  else 
they'd  have  had  to  drag  Frau  Buchholz  on  to  the  scaf- 
fold.*"— "  You  call  that  defending  me  ?" — "  Yes,  I  do; 
weren't  you  always  considerate  to  me  ....  when  Emil 


202  Miserable  in  Body  and  Mind. 

....  so  it  would  really  have  grieved  me  were  you  to  be 
put  on  the  rack,  or  anything  of  that  sort." — ''  Good 
God,  protect  and  defend  me  !  I  can  swear  I  never 
raised  a  finger  against  that  girl." — "  Frau  Buchholz, 
don't  perjure  yourself.  How  could  the  report  have  got 
about,  if  there  was  no  truth  in  it  ?  Maybe  the 
hand  in  which  you  held  the  poker  slipped  a  bit;  at  all 
events,  that's  what  I  would  say  to  the  judge,  if  I  had 
flown  into  the  ditch  as  you  have  done." 

"  Frau  Bergfeldt,"  I  said  in  a  weak  voice,  "  I  cannot 
bear  any  more  of  this  kind  of  talk,  I  would  rather  be 
left  alone." — "I'm  in  no  hurry,"  she  replied,  and  kept 
sitting  there,  and  continued:  "  It's  only  at  first  that 
you'll  feel  it,  afterwards  people  will  forget  it;  one  has 
to  forget  things.  Yet  what's  in  a  person  the  rain'll 
never  wash  off." — And  in  this  style  on  she  rattled.  It 
was  not  till  I  was  miserable  both  in  body  and  mind 
that  she  went.  "  Betti,"  I  said,  with  a  last  effort,  "I'm 
not  at  home  to  any  one  after  this,  not  even  though  the 
Great  Mogul  himself  should  come  running  up  on 
hands  and  feet." 

One  exception  had  to  be  made,  however^  for  Frau 
Helbich,  the  tavern-keeper's  little  wife,  would  not  take 
a  refusal,  saying  she  had  an  important  communication 
to  make.  She  had  heard  all  the  particulars.  The  skat 
players  had  discussed  the  case  to  and  fro,  so  that  she 
had  become  quite  interested  in  it.  "  Frau  Buchholz, 
it  is  to  you  that  we  owe  all  our  good  fortune,  and  we 
are  deeply  grieved  to  think  of  you  in  this  dreadful 
trouble.  It's  enough  to  turn  the  heart  in  one's  body. 
And  I  am  positive  that  you  are  innocent." — "That  I 
am,  Frau  Helbich;  but  no  one  will  believe  me."—"  I 
believe  you,"  she  replied  briskly,  "  and  that's  the  reason 
I  have  come  here.  I  v/ant  to  tell  you  that  whatever 
may  be  said,  the  point  about  the  dog  is  suspicious." — 


An  Affix  ting  Attack.  203 

"  It's  of  no  use  saying  that;  the  lawyers  sifted  the 
whole  matter  thoroughly," — "  Well,  but  every  one 
knows  that  the  first  thing  burglars  do  is  to  poison  a 
watch-dog." — "  That  doesn't  tally,  for  the  dog  in  the 
present  case  was  a  mere  lap-dog." — "  That's  just  it; 
watch-dogs  are  outside  the  house,  and  might  be  got 
at;  the  dog  at  Dr.  Wrenzchen's  was  a  lap-dog  and  was 
inside  the  house.  Now,  who  gave  it  the  poison  ?  That 
can  only  have  been  done  by  some  one  in  the  house." — 
"  That  doesn't  tally  either,  Frau  Helbich,  for  the  dog 
wasn't  poisoned,  but  throttled  by  ha\ing  a  string  tied 
round  its  neck.  You  are  mistaken." — "  One  of  our 
regular  midday  customers,  a  student,  was  positive 
about  this.  He  said,  that  if  the  poisoning  could  be 
proved,  you  would  be  acquitted." — "Frau  Helbich,  I 
am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  sympathy,  but  the 
lawyers  are  likely  to  know  more  than  a  sudent  and  we 
others  w^ho  haven't  experience  in  such  things.  Every- 
thing was,  of  course,  thoroughly  examined,  and  nothing 
was  found." — "  And  I  had  so  firmly  hoped  to  render 
you  some  assistance,  Frau  Buchholz;  you  cannot  think 
how  grieved  I  am  for  3'ou."  With  this  she  began  to 
cr}^,  and  I  cried  too.  Of  all  the  attacks  upon  me  this 
was  the  most  affecting  one;  we  both  felt  so  utterly 
helpless.  And  the  following  day  the  case  was  to  be 
inquired  into. 

I  was  so  downcast  that  I  went  to  bed  before  it  was 
dark.  My  Carl  came  and  sat  down  beside  me.  He 
spoke  very  kindly,  and  said  that  I  oughtn't  to  make 
matters  out  worse  than  they  were  ;  but  then  he  hadn't 
had  the  many  visits  of  condolence  that  T  had  had, 
"  Try  and  get  a  good  rest,"  he  said,  "  and  do  not  worry 
so.  When  the  trial  is  over,  you  will  quickly  recover 
your  old  cheerful  spirits.  You  look  so  snug  and  com- 
fortable lying  there,  now  do  try  and  be  happier."— 


204  WilJiclinine  has  Doleful  Thoughts. 

"Carl,"  said  I,  "you  surely  don't  want  me  to  purr  like 
an  old  torn  cat?  Even  though  I  could,  I  wouldn't,  in 
my  present  state  of  misery." 

Betti  came  in  and  asked  me  if  I  cared  to  have  any- 
thing to  eat.  "You  might  bring  me  a  little  milk  and 
biscuit  later,  just  enough  to  support  life,  but  I'm  in  no 
hurry," 

I  had  no  appetite.  Terrible  thoughts  seemed  to 
have  driven  hunger  away.  In  a  kind  of  doze,  I 
dreamed  of  prisons  and  executions,  and  although  I 
tried  to  persuade  myself  that  this  was  only  the  result 
of  Frau  Bergfeldt's  chatter,  as  soon  as  I  closed  my 
eyes,  the  same  horrors  again  rose  up  before  me. 

Carl  came  in  to  wish  me  good-night,  and  Betti  in- 
sisted upon  my  taking  some  food.  To  please  her,  I 
forced  myself  to  take  something,  and  found  it  tasted 
better  tjian  I  had  expected.  The  milk  was  freshly 
boiled,  and  the  biscuits  crisp.  The  child  also  brought 
me  in  a  night-lamp,  which  she  lighted,  and  after  hav- 
ing kissed  me,  she  too  went  away.  Again  I  was 
alone. 

Before  me  was  the  last  night  of  my  hitherto  irre- 
proachable life;  henceforth^ I  might  never  again  be 
able  to  look  any  one  straight  in  the  face.  And  if  I  saw 
two  persons  nudging  each  other,  and  jeering,  I  should 
always  suspect  that  it  was  about  me.  And  if  people 
should  look  at  me  rather  doubtfully,  might  they  not 
be  quite  right  in  doing  so?  Could  I  ever  again  con- 
demn a  fellow-creature  without  saying  to  myself, 
"  You  have  yourself  sat  in  the  dock,  and  have  had 
sentence  passed  upon  you."  Then  a  proverb  crossed 
my  mind,  Heaven  only  knows  where  I  had  heard  it  : 
"Woe,  woe  to  thee,  Wilhelmine  !  the  righteous  will 
turn  their  faces  from  thee."  Sleep  was  what  I  wanted  ; 
oh,  how  glad  I  should  have  been  to  get  to  sleep. 


Praying  for  Help.  205 

I  lay  first  on  one  side,  then  on  the  other,  and  just  as  I 
fancied  I  was  about  to  drop  off  to  sleep,  I  became  con- 
scious that  there  were  crumbs  of  biscuit  in  the  bed, 
and  my  slightest  movement  made  them  irritate  and 
annoy  me.  Every  moment,  too,  there  seemed  to  be 
more,  till  the  torture  became  unbearable,  and  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  get  out  of  my  bed  and  re- 
make it.  This,  I  felt,  did  m}'  spirits  some  good,  but 
of  sleep  there  was  none  to  be  got. 

I  lay  and  tum.bled  about  as  much  as  before.  There  ! 
Wasn't  that  a  crumb  again?  Yes,  to  be  sure  it  was. 
A  few  must  have  got  on  to  the  mat  in  front  of  the  bed, 
and  stuck  to  my  bare  feet.  And  truly  the  whole  lot  of 
them  seemed  to  have  come  marching  back  again.  I 
felt  desperate,  and  cried  in  my  vexation  and  helpless- 
ness. By  what  small  means  God  can  punish,  us — a 
single  crumb  of  biscuit  is  enough  !  I  knew  that  I  had 
not  always  done  what  I  ought  to  have  done,  but  had  I 
really  deserved  such  terrible  chastisement  ?  It  was 
long  since  I  had  folded  my  hands  in  prayer  ;  now  they 
found  their  way  to  each  other  of  their  own  accord,  and 
I  humbl}'  prayed  for  help.  Then  I  crept  out  of  bed  a 
second  time,  and  remade  it  with  the  utmost  care.  When 
I  lay  down  again  a  gentle  peacefulness  seemed  to  have 
come  over  me,  and  sleep  came  with  it. 

Early  in  the  morning  I  was  awoke  by  noises  in  the 
adjoining  room,  which  was  being  cleaned.  I  heard 
Doris  opening  the  window,  moving  the  chairs,  and 
putting  all  into  order;  Betti  too  was  up.  She  came  to 
me  quietly,  thinking  I  might  still  be  asleep,  and  was 
surprised  to  find  me  awake.  "Child,"  said  I,  "with 
trouble  in  one's  heart,  and  crumbs  in  the  bed,  there's 
not  much  sleep  to  be  got."  She  helped  me  to  dress. 
Later  Uncle  Fritz  came  in,  he  was  to  be  my  witness  ; 
and,  slow  as  the  clock  seemed  to  go,  at  last  it  became 


2o6  TJic    Trial  Begun. 

time  for  us  to  drive  off.  The  last  act  of  the  tragedy 
was  about  to  begin. 

Never  had  I  even  seen  the  law  court  in  the  Moabit 
district,  and  now  I  was  actually  to  appear  as  a  de- 
linquent there  myself.  "  Over  yonder  is  the  court- 
yard where  the  executions  take  place,"  said  Uncle 
Fritz,  pointing  to  a  wall.  I  shuddered.  But  Fritz 
continued  :  ''  As  long  as  Krauts  keeps  on  his  white 
gloves  he's  not  dangerous  ;  when,  however,  he  begins 
to  take  them  off  .  .  .  ."  Carl  here  forbade  Fritz  to 
talk  in  that  manner,  and  gave  me  his  arm.  He  asked 
for  Room  29  ;  we  were  shown  the  way,  and  at  the  end 
of  a  long  corridor,  we  reached  the  antechamber. 
Some  people  were  sitting  there  on  benches,  others  were 
standing  about.  Herr  Greve  and  his  wife  were  there, 
also  some  policemen  and  Dr.  Wrenzchen.  And  that 
wretch  of  a  girl  too  I  caught  sight  of,  she  who  was 
the  cause  of  all  this  worry  and  trouble. 

The  door  of  Room  29  was  then  opened,  and  a 
lawyer's  clerk  read  out  from  some  document  the 
words  :  "  Ahrens  versus  Meier."  Several  persons  who 
had  been  waiting  went  in,  and  after  a  short  time  came 
out  again.  They  had  come  to  terms  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, fortunate  people  that  they  were  !  '*  Band 
versus  Buchholz  "  was  then  called  out.  My  brain  was 
all  in  a  whirl.  I  tottered  forward,  my  limbs  feeling 
as  heavy  as  though  I  had  been  walking  in  dough,  and 
more  like  a  dead  toad  than  a  human  being.  A  small 
square  place  like  a  box  was  pointed  out  to  me,  and 
there  I  sat  down  upon  a  chair.  This  was  the  barri- 
cade to  separate  the  accused  person  from  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

At  a  raised  table  covered  with  green  baize,  sat  the 
magistrate,  his  assessors,  and  the  clerk  of  the  law 
court.     The  latter  read  out  the  indictment.     On  the 


Pi'oposcd  Coviproinisc  rejected.  20/ 

right  sat  the  plaintiff,  in  the  middle  were  the  witnesses 
who  had  been  called,  and  behind  them  sat  the  public, 
a  barrier  separating  them  from  those  taking  part  in 
the  proceedings. 

Everything  that  I  was  supposed  to  have  said  was 
then  read  out.  And,  oh !  how  offensive  the  words 
sounded  in  the  mouth  of  a  man  who  knew  nothing 
about  the  matter  and  who  hadn't  even  been  present. 
And  this  I  had  to  listen  to  !  The  magistrate,  looking 
very  solemn  in  his  black  gown,  then  said  that  the 
statements  of  the  witnesses  would  have  to  be  con- 
firmed on  oath,  and  after  giving  them  an  impressive 
exhortation,  they  were  asked  to  retire.  When  they 
had  left  the  room  the  magistrate  addressed  the  plain- 
tiff and  me,  and  gave  us  to  understand  that  it  would 
be  much  the  wiser  plan  for  us  to  settle  the  matter 
quietly  by  accommodation,  and  asked  if  we  would 
agree  to  this. 

**  Yes,"  I  sighed. 

"  No,"  said  the  girl  ;  she  had  her  reputation  as  well 
as  grander  folks,  and  didn't  mean  to  be  trodden 
upon. 

No  such  thing  had  been  done,  replied  the  magis- 
trate, and  moreover,  what  advantage  would  it  be  to 
her  to  persist  in  the  punishment  of  a  lady  of  irre- 
proachable character?  Frau  Buchholz  was  willing  to 
retract  her  words,  and  to  bear  the  costs  of  the  trial, 
whereby  her  honour  would  be  perfectly  satisfied. 

The  servant-girl  maintained  that  she  would  not 
agree  to  this.  Frau  Buchholz  should  be  imprisoned 
and  pay  3000  marks  damages,  that's  what  she  demand- 
ed. The  magistrate  thereupon  replied  in  a  very  severe 
tone  of  voice:  "You  have  nothing  whatever  to  de- 
mand."— Her  solicitor  had  told  her  she  had. — Then 
she  must  have  employed  a  very  strange  kind  of  solic- 


2o8  Calling   Witnesses. 

itor. — He  knew  as  much  and  more  than  other  lawyers. 
— That  remains  to  be  proved. 

As  there  was  thus  no  likelihood  of  any  amicable  set- 
tlement to  the  dispute,  the  proceedings  commenced. 
Dr.  Wrenzchen  was  called  in  as  the  first  witness.  The 
magistrate  drcAV  his  attention  to  the  fact  that,  as  a  rel- 
ative of  the  defendant,  he  had  a  right  to  decline  to 
stand  as  a  witness.  "What  will  he  do?"  thought  I. 
"Will  he  take  his  revenge,  and  thus  bring  about  an 
eternal  breach  between  us  ?  " 

The  Doctor  said  he  should  refrain  from  making  any 
statement,  but  wished  to  express  his  surprise  at  the  im- 
pudence of  the  plaintiff  in  claiming  him  as  a  witness 
on  her  side.  This  remark  of  the  Doctor's  seemed  to 
me  the  greatest  possible  proof  of  nobility  of  soul,  and 
never  shall  I  forget  it. 

Herr  Greve  was  then  called.  He  was  asked  his  age, 
his  social  position  and  his  religion,  and  had  to  swear 
not  to  conceal  any  fact,  or  to  add  anything  to  what  he 
knew,  but  to  speak  nothing  but  the  truth,  so  help  him 
God.  While  saying  these  words,  he  had  to  raise  his 
right  hand,  and  all  those  present  had  to  take  part  in  it 
by  standing  up. 

The  magistrate  then  asked  Herr  Greve  whether  he 
had  heard  the  defendant  call  the  plaintiff  a  low  cheat 
on  the  evening  in  question.  Herr  Greve  replied  that 
he  could  not  remember  to  have  heard  exactly  those 
words.  He  was  further  asked  whether  he  had  heard 
the  defendant  say  of  the  plaintiff  that  she  v>^as  a  brazen- 
faced huzzy.  Herr  Greve  replied  that  he  did  remem- 
ber this,  it  having  struck  him  as  strange  that  a  lady  of 
culture  should  have  used  such  an  expression,  and  he 
attributed  it  to  her  being  in  a  state  of  great  excitement. 

"  Mr.  Magistrate  and  gentlemen,  I  can  furnish  a  true 
statement  of  what  happened,  and  beg  you  to  hear  what 


Uncle  Fritz  on  the  Stand.  209 

rny  witness  has  to  say.  That  girl  always  behaved  in  a 
rude  and  impertinent  manner  towards  me."  Uncle 
Fritz  was  then  called.  As  he  came  forward  the  abus- 
ive creature  exclaimed:  "That's  a  witness  I  won't 
have." — "The  admissibility  of  a  witness  is  determined 
by  the  court,"  said  the  presiding  judge. — "  I  don't  care, 
I  won't  agree  to  it.  He  once  wanted  to  pinch  my 
cheek,  and  I  gave  him  a  crack  across  his  fingers  for  his 
impudence;  since  then  he  has  alvva3'S  been  against 
me." — "  I  hope  no  one  will  credit  me  with  such  bad 
taste,"  was  Uncle  Fritz's  reply.  The  magistrate,  how- 
ever, requested  him  to  be  serious,  and  to  keep  to  the 
point  in  question. 

Uncle  Fritz  then  stated  that  the  plaintiff,  withoutf 
any  obvious  reason,  had  invariably  acted  in  a  repre- 
hensible way  towards  the  defendant.  This  had  struck 
him  whenever  they  had  met  at  Dr.  Wrenzchen's  house. 
"What  reason  had  the  defendant  given  you  for  acting 
thus  ? "  asked  the  magistrate. — "Well,  I  can't  bear  any 
one  coming  peering  into  my  pans  when  I'm  cooking," 
was  her  reply. 

"  Of  course  not  !  "  I  exclaimed;  "  you  didn't  want  an 
experienced  housewife  noticing  how  her  daughter  was 
being  cheated  at  every  turn  and  corner  !  How  was  it 
that,  notwithstanding  their  simple  life,  their  expenses 
were  so  enormously  high,  in  spite  of  my  daughter 
keeping  an  exact  account  of  her  outlays.  Dr.  Wrenz- 
chen  himself  was  becoming  suspicious.  Her  object, 
Mr.  Magistrate,  was  probably  to  frighten  me  out  of  the 
house,  in  order  that  she  might  prey  upon  an  inexperi- 
enced mistress,  and  that,  too,  was  probably  her  reason 
for  making  the  fuss  aboxat  the  crawfish. — "That's  a 
new  insult  to  be  added  to  the  list,"  the  servant-girl 
called  out  in  a  loud  voice.  Dr.  Wrenzchen,  however, 
supported  my  statement. 
14 


2IO  An  Important  Question. 

The  most  ticklish  point  in  the  case  was,  however, 
still  to  come.  The  magistrate  observed  :  there  seems 
to  have  been  provocation  for  the  alleged  insulting 
speeches,  but  the  defendant's  assertion  that  the  plain- 
tiff made  common  cause  with  the  burglars,  might  be 
likely  seriously  to  injure  the  plaintiff's  prospects  in 
life. 

The  policemen  were  then  examined,  and  stated  that 
I  had  certainly  declared  that  the  provisions  had  been 
purchased  specially  with  a  view  to  the  robbers,  and 
also  that  I  had  undoubtedly  maintained  that  the  plain- 
tiff had  had  a  hand  in  the  matter.  This  they  affirmed 
on  oath,  as  did  also  Herr  Greve  and  his  wife. 

A  buzzing  sound  seemed  to  fill  my  head.  I  felt  as 
if  the  floor  of  the  room  had  suddenly  became  aslant, 
and  that  I  should  not  be  able  to  prevent  myself  slip- 
ping down.  I  nervously  clutched  hold  of  the  chair, 
as  I  saw  the  magistrate  rise  and  say  to  his  colleagues, 
"You  will  agree,  I  think,  that  some  mild  form  of  pun- 
ishment is  all  that  is  necessary." 

In  the  vain  hope  that  some  assistance  might  yet  be 
forthcoming,  my  eyes  wandered  anxiously  round  the 
room  ;  and  I  caught  sight  of  one  face  upon  which  all 
the  compassion  in  the  world  seemed  to  be  concen- 
trated, and  tearful  eyes  that  looked  at  me  in  a  dumb 
but  beseeching  way.  I  understood  the  beseeching 
look  of  plump  little  Frau  Helbich,  and,  as  if  by  some 
inspiration,  I  rose  up  and  said  aloud,  "Mr.  Magistrate 
and  gentlemen,  I  should  like  to  ask  my  accuser  one 
more  question  ;  let  her  confess  why  she  poisoned  the 
dog." 

A  pin  might  have  been  heard  fall,  the  silence  was  so 
great.  The  servant-girl  changed  colour,  and  seemed 
to  lose  her  self-possession.  "  I  never  could  endure  the 
animal,"  she  burst  out.     "  So  you  admit  having  poi- 


About  Maffi  Pamph.  2ii 

soned  the  dog  ?  "  said  the  magistrate,  giving  her  a  pene- 
trating look.  "  It  was  simply  to  provoke  me  that  they 
called  the  creature  Maffi  Pamph,  because  my  name 
was  Marie  Band." — "  And  was  that  sufficient  reason 
for  your  despatching  the  animal  ?  " — "  I  couldn't  stand 
the  name  any  longer." — "  Mr.  Magistrate,"  I  inter- 
posed, "  Maffi  is  merely  an  abbreviation  of  Moppel, 
and  Uncle  Fritz  added  the  name  Pamph." — "  Really," 
exclaimed  the  girl,  casting  a  malicious  glance  at  me, 
"  there's  no  one  here  likely  to  believe  that  !  " — "  But 
it's  true,"  I  replied;  "everything  that's  soft  and  pet- 
like begins  with  an  '  M,'  surely  no  one  would  ever 
think  of  taking  a  crocodile  or  a  rattlesnake  on  to  their 
lap  to  stroke  and  fondle,  and  call  either  of  them 
*  Mousie,*  or  '  minikin.'  "  The  magistrate  interrupted 
me  by  saying,  "  I  must  ask  you  not  to  wander  from 
the  point.  I  understand  you  had  absolutely  no  inten- 
tion of  annoying  the  plaintiff  by  giving  the  little  dog 
the  name  of  Maffi  Pamph  ?  " 

"Goodness  me,  of  course  not!  We  never  meant 
anybody  by  that  name.  That's  a  mere  shuflflling  ex- 
cuse of  the  girl's.  The  dog  barked  at  every  one  in  a 
horrid  way  ;  Herr  Greve  can  tell  you  that,  and  it  was 
very  necessary  on  the  evening  of  the  robbery  that  it 
should  be  quiet,  else  Herr  Greve  might  have  come 
down,  alarmed  by  the  noise,  and  have  surprised  the 
burglars.  Moreover,  the  dog  would  never  let  her  touch 
it,  so  that  she  must  have  put  the  poison  in  its  food." — 
"  That's  a  downright  lie  !  "  exclaimed  the  girl.  "  You 
have,  however,  already  half  admitted  having  given  the 
animal  poison,"  said  the  magistrate,  turning  to  the 
plaintiff;  "it  would  be  well  for  you  to  tell  us  the 
whole  truth.  Your  denjnng  matters  will  not  help 
you  ;  science  has  means  of  proving  whether  the  dog 
was  poisoned  or  not." — "Well  then,  I  did  give  it  a 
powder  to  be  rid  of  it." 


212  Wilhclnn)ic  Acquitted, 

"  And  where  did  you  get  the  powder  ?  " — "  From  an 
apothecary." — "Which  apothecary?" — "I  don't  re- 
member now." — "  Try  and  recollect,  it  would  be 
strange  if  you  had  forgotten  that." — "  I  didn't  fetch  it 
myself." — "  Who  was  it  did  you  the  favour  to  fetch 
it?" — "An  acquaintance." — "What  was  the  name  of 
this  acquaintance  of  yours  ?" — "It  was  a  man  I  didn't 
know,  I  asked  him." — "Again  one  of  the  great  un- 
known !  "  said  the  magistrate,  and  thereupon  made  a 
sign  to  the  clerk,  and  whispered  some  words  into  his 
ear.  The  clerk  left  the  room  and  returned  with  a 
policeman.  The  magistrate  rose  and  said,  "  There  are 
grave  reasons  for  thinking  that  the  plaintiff,  Marie 
Band,  spinster,  was  implicated  in  the  robbery  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Wrenzchen;  she  must  be  placed  under 
arrest,  and  the  case  enquired  into  again.  The  private 
charge  against  Frau  Buchholz  may  be  considered  as 
withdrawn." 

Marie  Band  had  to  follow  the  policeman  and  be  put 
in  prison — I  was  free  ! 

We  left  Room  29,  to  make  way  for  others.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  this  is  the  first  and  last  time  I  shall  ever 
have  to  enter  it.  But  should  it  happen  that  I  have 
again  to  attend,  I  shall  be  able  to  assume  a  very  differ- 
ent tone,  for  I  have  now  become  quite  familiar  with 
legal  phraseology. 

When  we  got  outside  and  could  breathe  freely  again, 
as  if  some  great  danger  had  been  evaded,  little  Frau 
Helbich  came  waddling  up  to  me,  offering  her  heart- 
felt congratulations.  "  Frau  Helbich,"  said  I,  "  you 
have  a  very  penetrating  insight  into  things;  what 
would  have  become  of  me  had  you  not  been  in  Court  ?  " 
— "All  happened  as  it  was  ordained,"  she  replied; 
"  our  heavenly  Father  rendered  you  assistance.  He 
put  all  things  right  in  His  own  good  time."     I  pressed 


and  tJic  Servant-girl  Watched.  213 

her  hand,  and  said  :  "  And  you  were  the  seraph  He 
sent  to  help  me  !  "     We  understood  each  other. 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  received  another  legal 
document,  announcing  that  the  private  charge  against 
me  was  withdrawn. 

The  girl  had  been  induced  to  make  a  full  confes- 
sion. Maffi  Pamph  was  sent,  like  any  human  being, 
in  a  sealed  box  to  a  chemist,  who  turned  him  inside 
out,  and  found  an  inconceivable  amount  of  poison  in 
him,  which  the  greedy  creature  must  have  consumed. 
The  rope  round  its  neck  was  a  case  of  mere  sham  fight- 
ing, as  was  also  the  girl's  being  tied  hand  and  foot  and 
gagged.  It  also  came  out  that  the  accomplice  had, 
at  first,  addressed  the  girl  as  a  lover,  and  that  she  had 
entrapped  him  partly  by  love  and  partly  by  stolen 
goods.  Of  course  if  she  had  not  been  thievishly  in- 
clined by  nature,  she  would  never  have  acted  thus.  I 
had  ahvai^s  maintained  that  she  was  a  good-for-noth- 
ing, and  Maffi  had  evidently  thought  the  same;  pre- 
cisely as  in  the  case  of  Professor  Paulsen's  dog  Polli, 
that  couldn't  stand  the  smell  of  the  old  woman  who 
was  arrested  afterwards.  Clever  dogs  sometimes  have 
a  supernatural  kind  of  wisdom. 

As  the  police  managed  to  discover  all  this,  they 
afterwards  set  a  watch  upon  the  girl's  doings  of  an 
evening,  and  thus  obtained  further  clues,  and  got  on 
to  the  track  of  the  burglars;  and  Dr.  Wrenzchen  was 
beginning  to  hope  he  might  yet  recover  his  silver. 

All  the  troubles  and  worries  of  the  past  weeks,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  have  attacked  my  very  bones;  and  a 
tinge  of  grey  had  become  visible  in  my  Carl's  hair. 
My  dearest,  best  beloved  Carl,  had  your  anxiety  on 
my  account  really  been  so  great  !  Shall  I  ever  be 
able  to  repay  you,  with  all  my  love  ! 


214  Frail  BucJiliolz  consults  the  Doctor, 


MY  SON-IN-LAW. 

There  was  no  use  fighting  against  it  or  trying  to  de- 
ceive myself;  the  experiences  of  the  past  weeks  had 
completely  damped  my  spirits,  and  however  great  an 
effort  I  might  make  to  smile — like  the  jaws  exhibited  in 
dentists' windows — my  temper  became  daily  more  and 
more  disagreeable,  and  my  complexion  yellowish-grey 
in  colour.  After  the  trial  I  had  most  firmly  resolved 
that  in  future  I  would  always  be  most  gentle  and  sub- 
missive towards  Carl,  but  I  found  it  absolutely  impos- 
sible to  control  my  irritable  nature;  and  so  I  made  his 
life  as  well  as  Betti's  miserable,  without  really  wishing 
to  do  so.  A  fly  on  the  wall  would  annoy  me,  and  I 
would  scold  them  both  for  it.  Frau  Helbich  one  day 
brought  me  a  small  bottle  of  home-made  Swedish  es- 
sence of  life,  but  it  upset  my  stomach,  and  I  took  a 
perfect  dislike  to  it.     In  fact,  I  was  ill. 

When  matters  had  become  so  bad  that  they  could 
scarcely  have  been  worse,  I,  at  last,  did  what  Carl  had 
wanted  me  to  do  at  the  outset,  and  agreed  to  consult 
Dr.  Wrenzchen.  "  He  was  so  extremely  considerate 
towards  you  at  the  time  of  the  trial,"  said  Carl,  "  that 
I  am  sure  you  can  place  full  confidence  in  him." 
But  I  was  myself  afraid  that  the  Doctor  might  pre- 
scribe me  some  medicine  to  harm  me.  My  mind  had 
become  so  darkened.  At  last,  however,  he  had  to  be 
called  in. 

The  Doctor  examined  me  very  carefully,  and  then 
said  that  the  only  thing  that  would  restore  me  to 
health  was  a  prolonged  stay  at  Carlsbad  and  use  of  the 
waters.  "  No,  no,"  was  my  reply,  "  I'll  not  submit  to 
be  sent  so  far  off  as  that  What  will  become  of  things 
here,  if  I  am  away  ?  " — "  You  can  leave  us  here  with  a 


and  Goes  to  Carlsbad.  21$ 

perfectly  easy  mind,  and  the  sooner  you  start,  the  bet- 
ter," replied  the  Doctor. — "  So  that  I  may  be  out  of 
your  way,  I  suppose  !  " — "  In  order  that  your  complaint 
may  not  become  chronic." — "  But  what  if  Emmi  should 
require  her  mother?" — "  If  you  want  to  get  well  for 
your  own  and  for  your  children's  sake,  follow  my  or- 
ders; as  your  son-in-law  I  will  consider  you  as  far  as 
possible;  as  your  medical  man,  however,  I  have  no 
consideration,  and  must  ask  you  to  obey  me.  Either 
you  go  off  to  Carlsbad  in  a  few  days,  or  I  send  you  a 
notary  that  you  may  make  your  will." 

Those  words  of  his  had  effect  The  necessary  prep- 
arations were  soon  made,  and  after  a  miserably  sad 
"  good-bye,"  Betti  and  I  got  into  the  train.  How 
could  I  know  whether  I  might  not  be  hurrying  straight 
into  the  jaws  of  death,  instead  of  to  Carlsbad  ? 

Betti  had  at  once  determined  to  accompany  me,  and 
put  up  with  my  unintentional  ill-humour  in  the  most 
forbearing  way.  She  had,  indeed,  become  perfectly 
changed  since  sorrow  had  entered  into  her  life.  For- 
merly there  had  always  been  slamming  of  doors,  and 
tossing  of  heads  if  anything  was  not  to  her  liking; 
now  she  went  about  so  quietly  one  scarcely  heard  her, 
and  was  all  loving  devotion.  I  had  had  sorrow  enough 
myself;  but  in  my  case  it  had  all  turned  to  gall  and 
bitterness.  I  wondered  whether  Carlsbad  could  be  of 
any  use  to  me  !     I  doubted  it. 

And  I  had  reason  for  thinking  this;  for  during  the 
first  days  of  my  stay,  there  was  not  a  trace  of  any  im- 
provement. I  drank  the  waters  as  prescribed,  and 
early  of  a  morning  was  one  of  the  many  hundreds  who 
promenaded  past  the  Marktbrunnen,  having  my  white 
glass  filled  with  the  warm  beverage  by  one  of  the 
water  damsels.  Afterwards  a  walk  had  to  be  taken, 
and  coffee  was  had  somewhere  in  the  open  air.     Betti 


2l6  About    Ycllozv  Complexions , 

thought  Carlsbad  lovely,  shut  in  as  it  is  by  woods  and 
hills,  and  the  river  Tepel  flowing  by.  It  did  not  ap- 
pear thus  to  me — in  fact,  nothing  seemed  pleasant  or 
pleasing. 

I  gave  free  utterance  to  my  thoughts  of  the  useless- 
ness  of  my  stay  in  Carlsbad,  and  one  morning  said  in 
rather  a  loud  voice  to  Betti,  who  never  left  my  side  : 
"It  is  really  a  most  unwarrantable  thing  that  I  should 
be  forced  to  stay  here,  when  I'm  getting  yellower  and 
yellower,  in  place  of  getting  better." — "  That's  just  as 
it  should  be,"  said  an  old  gentleman,  who  happened  to 
be  walking  behind  us  ;  "  it  is  very  often  the  case  that 
a  complaint  gets  worse  at  first,  but  this  is  a  sure  sign 
that  the  waters  are  having  effect ;  in  a  week  you  will 
speak  very  differently." — "  Indeed  !  "  said  I,  incredu- 
lously.— "  You  may  depend  upon  what  I  say,  for  I  have 
been  to  Carlsbad  regularly  for  thirty  years,  and  know 
the  waters.  My  name  is  Leopold  Freund  ;  I  come 
from  Breslau,  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  assist  you  in  any 
way  with  my  advice."  I  then  introduced  myself  and 
Betti  to  him,  and  we  went  together  to  drink  the  waters. 
Suddenly  Herr  Freund  said  :  "  Why  does  your  daugh- 
ter not  take  the  waters,  her  complexion  is  rather 
yellow  ?  " — "  Why  not !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  because  the 
yellow  tint  you  notice  comes  from  the  lining  of  her 
parasol  !  " — "  Oh  !  I  see  now,  of  course,  it  is  iperely 
the  reflection,"  said  Herr  Freund,  smiling  ;  "  it  is 
curious  how  apt  one  is  to  fanc}''  people  need  the  waters 
when  one  raves  about  Carlsbad  as  I  do." 

As  Herr  Freund  is  a  living  proof  of  the  curative 
properties  of  the  water,  the  Carlsbaders  look  upon 
him  as  belonging  to  the  place  ;  and  he  is  certainly 
well  acquainted  with  its  peculiarities  ;  this  was  proved 
by  the  effect  the  waters  soon  began  to  have  upon  me, 
which  became  more  evident  day  by  day. 


and  Rock-bouillon. 


217 


The  orange  colour  of  my  complexion  and  my  irrita- 
bility began  gradually  to  disappear.  My  pleasure  in 
life  returned,  and  my  eyes  were  able  more  and  more 
to  enjoy  the  beauties  of  nature.  Upon  first  coming  to 
Carlsbad,  we  had  never  walked  further  than  to  the 
Freundschafts-Saal,  or  to  Pupp's,  or  the  Post-office,  but 
Ave  now  gradually  began  to  visit  places  at  a  greater 
distance,  and  scarcely  a  day  passed  without  Herr 
Freund  telling  us  of  some  new  excursion  to  make. 
He  never  accompanied  us,  as  he  preferred  taking  his 
exercise  sitting. 

One  day  he  had  recommended  us  to  walk  across  the 
Otto's  Hohe  and  the  Ewige-Leben  as  far  as  the  Berg- 
Wirthshmis.  We  followed  his  advice,  and  climbed 
bravely  up  the  hills.  The  view  was  charming  and  the 
woods  delightful,  and  we  roamed  far  in  amongst  its 
green  twilight,  till  at  last  we  found  we  had  quite  lost 
our  way. 

"  Let  us  rest  here  a  little,  and  then  we  will  turn 
back,"  said  I  to  Betti  ;  but  she  replied  :  "  You  had 
better  sit  down  upon  this  rock,  and  I'll  go  and  try  to 
find  the  right  path." 

What  a  nice  fuss  I  should  have  made  about  this,  if 
it  had  happened  when  I  first  came  to  Carlsbad,  thought 
I  to  myself,  and  kept  thinking  how  marvellous  the 
rock- bouillon  was,  coming  as  it  did  boiling  out  of  the 
earth,  and  not  only  able  to  clear  one's  body,  but  one's 
spirits  too.  In  a  very  short  time  I  should  be  able  to 
fly  into  Carl's  arms  a  perfectly  new  creature,  as  if  I  had 
come  fresh  from  Spindler's  establishment.  Every  week 
there  came  a  letter  from  Berlin,  where  things  seemed 
to  be  going  on  perfectly  smoothly.  I  found  letter- 
writing  somewhat  a  trouble,  which  was  owing  to  the 
waters  probably,  for  they  have  no  effect  upon  one's 
mental  activity. 


2i8  Companions  in  Affliction. 

Just  as  I  was  beginning  to  fidget  about  Betti's  not 
coming  back,  I  saw  her  approaching  in  the  company 
of  an  elderly  gentleman  in  a  straw  hat,  with  eye- 
glasses, a  white  beard,  and  leaning  heavily  on  his  stick 
in  walking.  He  told  us  he  was  suffering  from  gout, 
but  would  be  happy  to  show  us  our  way.  We  then 
told  him  how  we  had  come  to  be  in  the  woods,  where- 
upon he  remarked  that  there  were  theoretical  as  well 
as  practical  pedestrians,  but  that  the  latter  were  not 
worth  much  w^hen  one's  potential  powers  refused  to 
render  their  services. 

Companions  in  affliction  soon  strike  up  an  acquaint- 
ance, and  before  we  had  reached  the  Berg-  Wirthshaics^ 
he  was  calling  me  Mamma  Buchholz,  and  Betti  had 
to  call  him  Papa  Michaelsen.  He  had  come  to  Carls- 
bad from  North  Germany  to  do  penance  for  having 
indulged  too  freely  in  red  wine.  Upon  a  remark  from 
me  that  he  shouldn't  touch  red  wine  if  it  disagreed 
with  him,  he  replied,  "  Poor  Papa  Michaelsen  couldn't 
be  so  cruel  as  that !  " 

''What  do  you  mean?"  I  asked.  His  answ'er  was 
that  if  one  didn't  take  pity  upon  oneself,  no  one  else 
was  likely  to  do  so,  and  everybody  ought  to  know  how 
much  pity  they  needed.  "  Are  you  so  much  in  need 
of  it?"  I  asked.  "  That  depends  upon  circumstances 
and  upon  the  vintages,"  was  his  reply. 

We  got  upon  very  friendly  terms  with  Herr  Michael- 
sen, for  he  knew  the  country  about,  and  became  the 
more  willing  to  join  us  in  our  walks  the  more  the 
waters  helped  him  in  his  legs. 

We  all  three  went  one  day  to  the  Hans-Hciling  rocks, 
which  are  said  to  be  a  wedding  party  in  a  state  of 
petrifaction  ;  also  to  the  Aberg,  and  on  our  way  there 
passed  the  black  Madonna  which  is  fixed  upon  a  tree, 
as  a  holy  image.    Poor  Papa  Michaelsen  did  not  think 


Papa  Michaelsen.  219 

much  of  the  black  Madonna.  However,  he  explained 
several  mineralogical  ci.cumstances  to  us,  and  the 
structure  of  the  earth's  crust,  subjects  that  Betti  un- 
derstood tolerably  well.  I  made  the  observation  that 
it  was  very  strange  that  the  waters  were  supposed  to 
be  most  effectual  when  taken  in  the  place  itself — 
as  my '  son-in-law  had  maintained — and  asked  him 
whether  he  thought  scientific  men  (who  seemed  able 
to  concoct  anything)  might  not  try  and  open  a  spring 
of  Carlsbad  waters  in  Berlin?  He  replied:  "There 
are  two  kinds  of  chemists,  useless  ones  and  mischiev- 
ous ones.  Both  parties  have  done  harm  enough  al- 
read}^  The  one  set  teach  people  how  to  adulterate 
things,  and  the  others  carry  out  their  instructions." 

When  Papa  ISIichaelsen  was  not  able  to  join  us  in 
our  walks,  we  quite  missed  him,  and  the  old  gentle- 
man thought  so  much  of  Betti  that  he  persuaded  us 
to  remain  a  week  longer  than  we  had  intended.  He 
said  his  cure  would  then  be  at  an  end,  and  that  we 
could  travel  back  together.  I  gave  my  consent  to  this 
the  more  readily  as  Herr  Freund  told  me  that  he  con- 
sidered an  after-cure  \'^ery  beneficial  in  most  cases.  I 
do  wish  now  that  I  had  gone  home  as  we  had  origi- 
nally proposed  doing. 

One  morning  when  we  were  sitting  peaceably  at 
Pupp's  having  our  coffee,  Betti  with  hers  quite  of  the 
wrong  sort,  more  than  half  milk,  we  two  old  people 
with  the  right  sort  as  prescribed,  with  H30  more  cream 
than  sensible  folks  have  ever  been  in  the  habit  of 
taking  sinco  the  days  of  Adam — all  of  a  sudden  up 
comes  a  telegraph  boy  with  a  message  for  me  ;  he  was 
accompanied  by  the  maidservant  from  our  lodgings, 
so  as  to  make  sure  of  finding  me.  I  opened  the  en- 
velope and  read  : 


220  WilJicimine  Mystified. 

"  A  healthy  boy,  brown  eyes,  exactly  like  his  father. 
Is  to  be  called  Franz.     Mother  doing  extremely  well. 

"  Wrenzchen." 

This  news  came  most  unexpectedly.  Papa  Michael- 
sen  congratulated  me  very  heartily,  and  at  once  gave 
Betti  her  new  title  of  'Auntie.  However,  I  could  not 
join  in  any  such  merriment,  for  I  kept  thinking  who 
there  was  to  superintend  matters  if  I  was  not  there. 
A  further  surprise  awaited  me,  however.  Scarcely 
half  an  hour  later  a  second  telegram  was  put  into  my 
hands,  with  the  words  : 

"  A  healthy  boy,  blue  eyes,  exactly  like  his  mother, 
is  to  be  called  Fritz.  The  father  as  well  as  can  be 
expected  !  Wrenzchen." 

'*  Herr  Michaelsen,"  said  I,  "  I  do  not  know  whether 
my  reason  has  been  affected  by  the  use  of  the  waters, 
or  what  can  have  happened.  First  I'm  told  it's  a  boy 
with  brown  eyes,  and  now  suddenly  it's  said  they're 
blue." 

"  It  does  sometimes  happen  that  eyes  change  in 
colour,"  said  Papa  Michaelsen  learnedly  ;  "  and  ac- 
cording to  Darwin  it  is  a  case  of  atavism,  but  the  short 
space  of  time  in  which  it  has  occurred  in  your  grand- 
son's case  renders  it  a  matter  of  extreme  interest.  It 
will  certainly  have  to  be  reported  to  one  of  our  scien- 
tific periodicals." 

"  But  why  should  the  child  first  be  called  Franz  and 
then  Fritz  ?  At  first  it's  said  to  be  like  the  father,  and 
then  like  the  mother  !  This  is  surely  a  human  impos- 
sibility." 

Papa  Michaelsen  gave  me  a  very  sly  look  across  the 
top  of  his  spectacles  and  said  :  "  What  if  there  should 
be  two  ? " 

"  Two  !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  when  they're  only  prepared 


Franz  and  Fritz.  221 

for  one.  No,  that's  nonsense  !  But  I  seem  to  under- 
stand it  now  ;  those  words,  '  the  father  is  as  well  as 
can  be  expected,'  are  Uncle  Fritz's  and  nobody  else's; 
all  I  can  say  is  that  such  jokes  are  not  very  likely  to 
assist  my  cure." 

Next  day,  however,  there  came  a  letter  from  Carl,  an- 
nouncing the  arrival  of  the  twins.  He  said  Uncle  Fritz 
had,  no  doubt,  sent  me  a  telegram,  and  told  me  that 
the  children  were  to  be  called  Franz  and  Fritz.  Dr. 
Wrenzchen  had  no  time  to  telegraph  himself,  and  had 
begged  Uncle  Fritz  to  send  a  message.  Emmi  was 
doing  very  well  and  was  supremely  happy. 

Franz' and  Fritz  !  The  names  were  not  at  all  to  my 
liking.  The  one  might,  of  course,  be  called  Franz 
after  the  Doctor,  but  would  it  not  have  been  much 
better  to  have  called  the  second  Wilhelm,  in  honour 
of  the  Emperor  as  well  as  of  myself?  A  nice  family 
ours  will  become  with  a  number  of  persons  with  the 
same  name.  It  will  end  in  their  having  all  to  be 
called  by  their  full  names,  else  there  will  be  a  per- 
petual confusion.  I  could  perfectly  w^ell  foresee  the 
muddle  there  would  be  in  days  to  come. 

Carl's  letter  had  a  postscript.  "  Franz  was  born 
during  the  last  hour  of  the  last  day  in  May  ;  Fritz 
during  the  first  hour  of  the  first  day  in  June.  What 
do  you  say  to  that  ? " 

"  That,  of  course,  it's  natural  enough  there  should 
be  endless  stupidity  when  I'm  not  by  to  see  to  things 
myself,"  I  exclaimed  excitedly.  "  The  poor  children  ! 
Not  a  soul  will  take  them  to  be  twins  when  their 
birthdays  come  to  be  celebrated  one  in  May  and  the 
other  in  June.  And  then  to  think  of  their  names, 
Franz  and  Fritz.  They  might  as  v.-ell  have  been 
called  Max  and  Moritz."  * 

*  The  title  of  a  very  popular  children's  story-book,  by  Wilhelm  Busch. 


222  VVilhebnine  in  Charge  of  the   Twins, 

"  Herr  Michaelsen,"  said  I,  "  we  must  be  off  home 
at  once  ;  I  cannot  be  spared  a  moment  longer  from 
Berlin,  If  I  delay  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  the  Bran- 
denberg  Gate  were  moved  from  its  place,  such  un- 
heard of  things  are  going  on  there." 

"  Is  the  river  Spree  on  fire  then  ? " 

"  If  it  v/ere  no  more  than  that  !  But  only  think,  my 
son-in-law  has  absolutely  got  no  one  to  keep  an  eye 
upon  him  ! " 


UNCLE  FRITZ. 


Our  return  home  was  a  most  joyful  one,  and  when  I 
pressed  my  first  kiss  on  the  little  foreheads  of  my  two 
baby  grandsons,  truly  everything  did  seem  to  me  per- 
fectly as  it  should  be  ;  for,  after  all,  the  two  little  crea- 
tures would  not  be  made  responsible  for  their  father, 
and  what  is  more,  too,  he  will  henceforth  have  to  play 
a  subordinate  part,  as  everything  naturally  will  have 
to  turn  upon  the  children.  I  at  once  took  up  my  post  at 
the  Doctor's  house,  during  the  daytime.  He  objected 
to  this  at  first,  but  I  asked  him  :  "  Do  you  mean  to 
kill  your  wife  and  babes  ?"  That  made  him  give  in. 
And  how  well  he  was  cared  for  himself,  now  that  I 
could  look  after  things  in  the  kitchen  without  fear  of 
the  cook  !  After  a  week's  time  he  regularly  beamed 
on  me. 

Emmi  recovered  day  by  day.  And  under  my  super- 
intendence she  got  only  what  was  good  for  her  and 
strengthened  her.  If  ever  there  was  a  Cerberus,  it  was 
I,  during  iliose  days  in  and  out  of  my  daughter's  room. 
One  thing  that  did  displease  me  was  that,  in  place  of 


and  luisJies  for  a  Cradle.  223 

having  cradles,  little  immovable  bedsteads  had  been 
ordered.  Emmi  told  me  Franz  had  said  that  rocking 
was  not  considered  hygienic,  and  was  apt  to  make 
children  stupid.  "Wasn't  he  himself  brought  up  in 
the  old  fashion,"  said  I,  "and  he  has  come  to  be  a  doc- 
tor !  Well,  maybe,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  the  rocking  he 
got  as  an  infant,  he'd  long  since  have  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Medical  Council." 

Many  a  time  I  wished  for  a  cradle,  especially  for  lit- 
tle Franz,  who  was  of  a  cr3ang  disposition,  and  Grand- 
inamma  Buchholz  had  to  carry  him  about  in  her  arms 
till  he  was  quiet.  I  told  the  Doctor  that  such  fits  had 
never  occurred  in  our  family,  and  that  the  bad  habit 
must  have  been  transmitted  from  his  side.  His  reply 
was  :  "  Dear  mother-in-law,  it's  only  external." 

Of  an  evening  Carl  or  Uncle  Fritz  would  come  and 
fetch  me,  and,  at  the  same  time,  enquire  how  things 
were  progressing.  On  the  Thursday  evening  Dr. 
Wrenzchen  did  not  go  out,  much  to  my  surprise. 
Something  did,  it  is  true,  seem  amiss  with  him  all  day 
long,  and  as  evening  approached  I  could  distinctly  see 
how  much  the  usual  evening  gathering  seemed  to  be 
upon  his  mind. 

Towards  8  o'clock  Dr.  Paber  called  to  ask  him 
whether  they  might  expect  him  at  the  Medical  Society 
later?  I  begged  Dr.  Paber  to  remain  with  us  to  sup- 
per, saying  that  I  would  send  the  servant  round  with 
a  message,  and  that  Dr.  Wrenzchen  would  so  enjoy  a 
quiet  talk  with  him  here.  Dr.  Paber  agreed  to  remain, 
and  as  there  was  cold  roast  veal  I  prepared  an  extra 
good  salad  of  meat  with  mayonnaise  and  capers,  and 
decorated  it  with  sliced  radishes  and  not  too  much 
gherkin;  they  thought  it  delicious.  When  supper  was 
over  I  had  a  large  jug  of  special  brew  fetched,  and 
my   son-in-law   thereupon    said,  "If  we  could  have  a 


224  About  ''Skat. 


game  of  skat  here,  I  wouldn't  change  places  with  a 
king  !  "  Dr.  Paber  looked  at  me  and  said  kindly: 
"  How  would  it  be  for  you  to  try  a  hand  for  once,  dear 
Frau  Buchholz  ?  " — "  What !  1  play  skat !  "  I  exclaimed. 
"You  must  know  something  about  this  entertaining 
game,  from  having  watched  others  play  it,"  continued 
Dr.  Paber.  "  Come,  dear  mother-in-law,  don't  be  a 
silly,"  said  the  Doctor.  "  I  do  not  think  I  have  any 
talent  for  card-playing,"  said  I.  But  the  Doctor  had 
already  fetched  the  boards,  and  the  two  gentlemen 
commenced  to  teach  me  the  rules  with  great  patience, 
without,  however,  letting  me  into  the  secret- of  some  of 
the  best  moves,  as  I  found  out  afterwards,  when  Uncle 
Fritz  appeared  and  he  sat  down  beside  me  and  helped 
me.  And  actually  I  won  the  game.  Dr.  Paber  declared 
he  had  never  seen  a  lady  with  more  natural  talent  for 
the  game. 

So  there  I  sat  with  the  three  gentlemen,  who  gave 
themselves  every  conceivable  trouble  to  lead  another 
fellow-creature  astray  into  the  vice  of  card-playing; 
and,  as  I  must  unfortunately  admit,  they  succeeded 
very  well,  for  it  was  nearly  midnight  before  we  had 
finished.  My  gains  I  divided  into  two  portions,  one 
for  Franz  and  the  other  for  Fritz.  I  had  become  some- 
what reconciled  to  the  name  Fritz,  when  Dr.  Wrenz- 
chen  assured  me  that  their  first  daughter  should  be 
called  Wilhelmine.  He  knows  how  fond  I  am  of  act- 
ing as  godmother. 

Meanwhile,  however,  I  had  a  promise  as  regards 
Uncle  Fritz  to  fulfil.  All  my  troubles  and  my  having 
to  go  to  Carlsbad  had,  of  course,  interfered  with  my 
proposed  visit  to  Lingen.  But  I  had  now  taken  the 
necessary  steps.  I  had  asked  him  beforehand,  "Fritz, 
are  you  as  determined  as  ever  about  Erica?" — "Im 
m.ore  wedded  than  ever,"  was  his  reply.     "Very  well, 


Something  Happens.  225 

then,"  said  I,  "we  shall  see  if  something  doesn't  hap- 
pen now." 

And  something  did  happen.  The  old  grandmother 
wrote  and  stated  that  it  was  her  intention  to  come  to 
Berlin,  in  order  to  see  whether  a  person  could  "live  in 
that  sinful  Babylon  without  being  carried  away  by  the 
devil.  "Wilheimine,  how  did  you  manage  to  accom- 
plish this  ?"  asked  Uncle  Fritz.  "  By  means  of  a  very 
moralising  letter,"  said  I.  "  You  told  me  what  a  strict 
hand  she  kept  over  the  money  matters  ....  so  I  told 
her  how  much  you  made  a  year,  and  that  there  was  no 
need  for  her  to  undo  her  purse-strings.  And  as  to 
Erica's  spiritual  welfare,  I  took  the  liberty  of  inform- 
ing her  that  we  had  a  dean  in  our  family  nearly  four 
hundred  years  old,  and  that  that  was  surely  a  suffi- 
cient guarantee  for  her.  She  swallowed  that."  Uncle 
Fritz  seized  hold  of  me  and  danced  me  round  and 
round  till  I  was  out  of  breath,  exclaiming,  ''Wilhel- 
mine,  you  are  a  regular  brick  !  " 

The  grandmother  had  intended  to  take  up  her  abode 
at  the  Krauses,  but  I  considered  it  wisest  to  have  her 
at  our  house  ;  and  it  was  a  good  thing  we  managed 
this,  for  she  was  stubborn  beyond  all  conception.  She 
declared  that  it  would  be  wicked  to  give  her  consent 
to  Erica's  engagement,  without  further  ado,  and  to 
decide  upon  mere  outward  appearances.  It  was  not 
till  she  had  fumbled  all  through  Uncle  Fritz's  books 
that  she  condescended  to  say  that  perhaps  some  day 
something  might  come  of  the  engagement.  It  was  a 
mercy  she  did  not  hear  Uncle  Fritz  express  his  thoughts 
aloud. 

I  so  constantly  drove  her  into  a  corner,  that  at  last 
she  hadn't  any  sort  of  excuse  to  make  to  me,  and  al- 
ways wound  up  with  the  remark  that  Berlin  was  a 
godless  place.     "You'd  better  look  a  little  about  Ber- 


226  Trndgi7ig  around  Berlin. 

lin  before  you  judge  from  mere  outward  appearances," 
I  retorted.  She  could  see  from  the  papers  what  went 
on  there.  "That's  mere  chatter." — "Oh,  no!"  was 
her  reply. 

I  made  Betti  take  my  place  at  the  Doctor's  house, 
and  determined  to  plunge  into  the  stream  myself.  It 
was  clear  the  grandmother  must  be  shown  something 
of  Berlin.  Uncle  Fritz  arranged  to  let  us  have  a  car- 
riage from  Beskow's  whenever  we  wanted  one,  and 
thereupon  we  went  first  to  one  place  and  then  to  an- 
other. "  People  seem  to  be  for  ever  holding  high  fes- 
tival in  Berlin,"  said  the  old  lady  one  day.  "  Not  at 
all,"  I  answered  ;  "  the  many  people  you  see  in  the 
streets  are  all  going  to  and  fro  on  some  business  or 
other.  They  rest  when  the  week  comes  to  an  end,  and 
amuse  themselves  of  a  Sunday."  The  old  lady  insisted 
upon  seeing  everything  that  was  to  be  seen,  and  was, 
moreover,  so  active,  one  might  have  fancied  she  had 
been  resting  all  these  years,  merely  in  order  to  begin 
trudging  all  round  Berlin  now.  And  I  had  to  go  with 
her,  wherever  she  went. 

She  wanted  one  day  to  go  to  the  top  of  the  Victory 
Column,  but  was  obliged  to  give  up  that,  for  I  told 
her  it  was  not  the  correct  thing  for  elderly  ladies  to 
do.  To  have  had  to  drag  myself  up  there  for  her  ben- 
efit was  just  asking  a  little  too  much.  And  the  appetite 
all  this  gave  her  ;  the  most  indigestible  things  agreed 
vvitii  her.  She  would  chop  away  at  them  on  her  plate 
until  she  got  them  all  into  the  smallest  morsels.  Hav- 
ing to  go  about  with  her  everywhere  was  a  perfect 
penance,  for,  of  course,  the  object  I  had  in  view  was 
a  marriage,  and  not  mere  sight-seeing.  What  did  we 
care  about  the  rubbish  that  Schliemann  had  dug  up  ? 
My  own  cooks  have  broken  me  more  dishes  than  the 
few  fragm.ents  he  has  to  show.     She  wanted  to  see  the 


An  After 7100 n  Drive.  227 

Ruhmes  Halle,  the  Library,  the  Picture  Gallery,  in  fact, 
every  place  she  had  ever  heard  or  read  about,  till  it 
got  a  little  too  much  for  us,  and  we  were  sick  of  the 
perpetual  gadding  about.  No  one  in  Berlin  ever 
thinks  of  going  to  such  places  more  than  once  a  year, 
and  not  even  that  sometimes.  So  when  she  expressed 
a  wish  to  see- the  Egyptian  Museum,  Uncle  Fritz  de- 
clared that  it  was  shut,  as  the  mummies  were  being 
fed.     So  we  got  out  of  that  luckily. 

It  was  clear  that  the  old  lady  was  day  by  day  getting 
to  like  Berlin  better,  but  her  obstinacy  about  the  en- 
gagement was  not  one  whit  the  less,  and  the  day  of 
her  departure  was  already  fixed  without  matters  hav- 
ing advanced  a  step.     But  she  little  knew  Uncle  Fritz. 

On  the  afternoon  previous  to  her  departure,  we 
drove  out  to  Potsdam.  It  was  a  hot  and  sultry  day; 
a  light  haze  lay  hovering  over  the  water,  and  before 
we  had  reached  Babelsberg,  there  were  peals  of  thunder, 
and  lightnings  flashed  across  the  sky,  which  was  rapidly 
becoming  overcast.  The  wind  rose  and  swept  through 
the  tree  tops.  "  We're  going  to  have  a  bad  thunder- 
storm," said  the  man  at  the  gates,  as  we  passed  into 
the  entrance  to  the  castle.  He  had  prophesied  rightly; 
before  long  the  flashes  of  lightning  and  peals  of 
thunder  came  crashing  down  together,  and  the  rain 
poured  in  torrents.  Darkness  had  come  in  the  day- 
time, and  with  the  darkness,  fear  came  upon  us,  and 
even  affected  the  grandmother.  She  stuck  her  fingers 
into  her  ears,  so  as  not  to  hear  the  thunder,  and  closed 
her  eyes  tightly  not  to  see  the  dazzling  flashes  of  light; 
hence  she  did  not  see  that  at  the  back  of  the  vestibule 
a  pale  and  terrified  girl  was  clinging  to  the  fearless 
man  beside  her,  and  that  he  had  put  his  arm  round 
her.  And  when  the  sky  became  a  blaze  of  fire,  and 
the  darkened  passage  was  filled  with  dazzling  light,  I 


228  TJie  Emperor  and  the  Birds. 

saw  a  blissful  smile  on  the  man's  face.  It  was  Uncle 
Fritz. 

When  the  storm  abated,  we  were  shown  over  the 
castle  by  the  keeper.  We  were  allowed  to  see  the 
Emperor's  study  and  his  bedroom.  There  was  no 
velvet  or  silk,  or  any  gold  ornamentation  about  those 
rooms.  A  narrow  camp-bedstead  served  the  Emperor 
as  his  resting  place  at  night ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  as  if 
some  high  and  holy  power  had  spread  its  wings  over 
the  place,  and  this  called  forth  a  feeling  of  reverence. 

The  keeper  also  showed  us  a  walking-stick  which 
the  Emperor,  in  1884,  had  cut  from  a  tree  in  the 
park.  It  is  the  one  he  is  in  the  habit  of  using  v/hen 
wandering  out  early  of  a  morning  among  the  shady 
avenues  of  trees.  At  those  times  all  the  little  birds 
from  far  and  near  come  flying  to  him  and  tell  the  Em- 
peror many  a  thing  no  one  else  knows.  People  who 
are  wise  and  just,  understand  the  language  of  birds, 
to  them  nothing  in  the  world  is  mean. 

The  weather  had  cleared  up.  The  storm  was  fol- 
lowed by  cheerful  sunshine — as  war  is  by  peace — and 
woods,  water,  and  meadows  lay  before  us  in  all  their 
splendour. 

We  had  to  proceed  on  our  way,  however,  and  passed 
the  estate  of  Prince  Wilhelm  and  his  consort,  the 
Princess  Victoria  from  sea-encircled  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein.  We  saw  the  children  playing  in  the  distance; 
they  were  the  great-grandchildren  of  the  Emperor,  the 
sweet  young  buds  of  the  Hohenzollern  tree.  On 
Prince  Bismarck's  birthday  the  parents  and  children 
planted  an  oak  all  by  themselves.  The  little  ones 
helped  with  their  little  wheelbarrows  and  spades,  and 
when  the  tree  was  planted  they  watered  the  earth 
round  it  with  pure  fresh  water.  When  the  boys  grow 
to  be  men,  the  oak  will  give  them  shade. 


Sa7is  Souci  and  CharlottcnJwf.  229 

With  Sans  Souci  the  grandmother  was  enchanted, 
and  she  may  look  far  and  wide  before  she  sees  anything 
like  it  again.  When  entering  near  the  obelisk,  and 
coming  in  sight  of  the  fountain  with  its  marble  gods 
and  goddesses,  at  the  end  of  a  broad  wooded  walk,  the 
el'fect  is  always  bewitching,  every  time  one  sees  it. 
And  then  the  castle  up  on  the  terrace.  It  was  there 
that  old  King  Frederick  lived,  and  it  was  there  he  died. 
The  clock  stopped  when  his  heart  beat  its  last,  and  has 
never  gone  since.  The  old  grandmother  thought  all 
this  wonderfully  interesting,  and  our  guide  was  called 
upon  to  answer  such  endless  questions,  one  might  have 
fancied  the  man  could  have  but  little  breath  left  in  his 
body;  we  could  scarcely  get  her  to  come  away.  She 
even  asked  to  be  allowed  to  see  the  kitchens.  Of  his- 
tory itself  she  has  no  notion  whatever.  And  all  the 
while  she  would  not  let  Erica  leave  her  side. 

With  Sans  Souci  the  old  lady  had  indeed  been 
amazed,  but  she  had  to  open  her  eyes  wider  still  when 
she  saw  Charlottenhof.  There  the  roses  grew  almost 
to  the  top  of  the  Greek  House,  and  the  lilies  joined  the 
roses  in  shedding  a  delicious  perfume  around.  A  little 
further  off  quantities  of  light  and  dark  roses  were 
blooming  in  all  their  beauty,  one  more  beautiful  than 
the  other.  Was  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  Uncle  Fritz 
went  mto  that  garden  of  roses,  and  that  he  drew  his 
white  rose  to  htm  and  kissed  her  warmly  without  the 
grandmother's  leave  ?  There  was  no  help  for  it  now. 
"  Are  you  going  to  persist  in  your  stubbornness  for 
ever  ? "  I  asked. 

Had  the  thunderstorm  softened  her  a  little,  or  was  it 
that  she  remembered  that  her  own  life  had  once  had 
its  day  of  roses,  of  which  nothing  now  was  left  but  the 
prickly  thorns  ?  She  was  silent.  I  beckoned  to  the  two, 
and  when  they  came  up  to  us,  I  gave  the  old  grand- 


230  The  Betrothal. 


mother  a  convenient  poke  in  ttie  back,  by  way  of  en- 
couragement.    And,  behold  !  out  she  came  with  "  Yes." 

As  we  walked  on,  we  elderly  ladies  discussed  the 
practical  part  of  the  matter,  and  I  maintained  that 
there  must  be  no  delay  about  the  wedding;  this  gave 
rise  to  a  dispute.  "  My  brother  has  waited  long 
enough,"  I  said  decisively;  "the  marriage  must  take 
place  in  a  few  weeks'  time.  What  do  you  say,  Fritz  ? "' 
— "  The  sooner  the  better,"  he  replied.  The  grand- 
mother demurred,  saying  it  was  contrary  to  all  custom. 
"  That  doesn't  matter,"  said  I. — "  It  is  necessary  to 
consider  what  people  will  say,"  she  replied.  "  Have 
done  with  all  this  talk,"  said  I;  "what's  decided  is 
decided." — "It  is  not,"  she  said. — "It  is,"  said  I.  For 
Fritz's  and  Erica's  sake  I  gave  in;  but  if  those  two 
hadn't  come  in  between  me  and  the  old  lady,  I  do  be- 
lieve we  should  have  ended  v^\X}ci pooh  and  bah! 

Erica  all  of  a  sudden  stood  still,  frightened,  for  shot 
after  shot  was  being  fired  close  to  us.  "  What's  that  ?  " 
she  asked  in  alarm. — "The  soldiers  are  practising 
shooting,"  replied  Fritz. — "What  for?"  she  asked. — 
"  To  protect  the  hearth  and  home  which  will  one  day 
be  yours  and  mine,  darling,"  he  said  kindly;  "and  no 
enemy  will  ever  come  to  destroy  the  roses  and  lilies  in 
that  home  of  ours."  She  looked  up  at  him  and  said  in 
a  whisper,  "  What  should  I  be  without  you,  dearest  ?  " 

In  the  evening  we  celebrated  the  betrothal.  Fritz 
was  inexpressibly  merry,  and  his  merriment  even  af- 
fected the  old  grandmother,  who  drank  "good  healths  " 
with  him  three  times  over,  and  even  took  more  than 
was  good  for  her.  Next  day  she  had  to  keep  in  bed 
till  midday,  and,  owing  to  a  severe  headache,  had  to 
live  upon  soda  and  Juliushall  water.  When  I  re- 
proached Uncle  Fritz  for  not  having  been  more  care- 
ful of  her,  he  said  drily,   "  Wilhelmine,  it's  no  fault  of 


''Skat''  Parties.  231 


mine  !  It's  hard,  but  just !     Why  hasn't  she  taken  more 
care  to  accustom  herself  to  spirituous  drinks?" 


HOW  THEY  ALL  ARE. 

Franz  and  Fritz  are  daily  getting  prettier,  and  al- 
though they  might  perfectly  well  be  baptized  now, 
the  Doctor  insists  upon  waiting  till  Uncle  Fritz  is 
back  from  his  wedding  trip,  for  Fritz  is  to  stand  god- 
father to  the  youngest  child,  and  my  Carl  is  to  hold 
the  elder  boy. 

Emmi  is  no  longer  alone  when  her  husband  is  out 
upon  his  rounds,  and  does  not  miss  him  on  the  Thurs- 
day evenings  when  he  is  with  his  friends.  And  I  must 
confess  there  is  something  magnetic  about  the  game 
of  skat,  for  it  both  attracts  and  rivets  one's  interest. 
When  v/e  go  to  the  Wrenzchens  of  an  evening,  and 
Betti  and  Emmi  are  sitting  on  the  sofa  working 
(double  work  being  necessary  for  Franz  and  Fritz),  my 
husband,  the  Doctor  and  I  have  a  game,  and  it's  de- 
lightful as  long  as  the  twins  keep  quiet.  But  scarcely 
are  the  words  uttered:  "Franz  is  crying,"  or  "  Fritz 
is  screaming,"  than  my  son-in-law  flies  off  to  the  bed- 
room. If  he  had  invested  in  cradles  these  disturb- 
ances might  be  less  frequent,  even  though  not  alto- 
gether avoided,  and  our  games  would  not  invariably 
be  interrupted  at  the  most  exciting  points.  Of  course, 
afterwards  no  one  knows  whose  turn  it  is  to  play,  and 
disputes  arise. 

This  coming  winter— when  we  are  all  together  again 
— I  mean  to  arrange  evening  meetings  for  skat  at  our 
house.  Dr.  Paber  has  already  consented  to  be  one  of 
the   party ;   and   the   Police-lieutenant   too,    a    highly 


232  About  a  Charybdis, 

cultivated  man,  is  also  a  very  good  player,  so  there  is 
no  fear  of  our  failing  from  want  of  forces,  especially 
as  we  can  calculate  upon  Uncle  Fritz  too.  Herr 
Kleines  also  could  be  invited  in  case  of  need  ;  and  it 
would  do  him  good  to  have  some  intercourse  with 
family  life. 

Uncle  Fritz's  wedding  coat  is  being  made,  and  he  is 
counting  the  days  when  he  will  be  off  to  Lingen.  He 
intends  to  go  straight  from  there  to  the  Rhine  with 
his  young  wife.  He  has  declined  my  offer  for  Carl 
and  me  to  go  to  Lingen  with  him.  He  says  that  he  is 
afraid  that  a  lot  of  relatives  ma}^  merely  increase  the 
sentimentality  and  tearfulness  of  the  day,  and  that  he 
wants  the  day  to  be  as  merry  a  one  as  possible,  so  he 
is  only  going  to  take  his  friend  Theodor  Mann  with 
him  as  his  best  man  ;  for  even  in  the  midst  of  serious 
matters  this  friend  of  his  never  neglects  to  give  fun  its 
due,  and  then  too  his  talent  for  singing  and  playing 
brings  cheerfulness  wherever  he  goes,  and  cheerful- 
ness is  ever  a  welcome  guest.  When  Fritz  told  me 
that  he  meant  also  to  invite  two  or  three  of  the  drink- 
ing members  of  his  choral  society,  The  Whooping 
Cough,  and  the  merriest  of  the  lot,  I  could  not  help 
saying  :  *'  Fritz,  of  what  good  will  they  be  in  Lin- 
gen ? " — "  An  amusement  to  the  natives  merely,"  said 
he.  I  warned  him  and  said,  "You  surely  know  the 
grandmother's  character  !  " — '*  A  veritable  old  Charyb- 
dis  !  "  he  exclaimed,  laughing,  "  she  revels  in  water, 
which  is  no  doubt  good  for  children,  and  can't  be  said 
to  harm  big  people  either,  and  tastes  good  too." — 
"Well,  my  idea  is  that  Erica  is  not  likely  to  get  much 
fun  out  of  any  such  arrangement  of  yours."  So  he 
dropped  it. 

Many  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  Weigelts' 
affairs.    Their  folly  in  wishing  to  appear  grander  than 


and  Furnislied  Apart)nents.  233 

they  really  were,  and  in  running  into  debt  for  the  sake 
of  their  wealthy  connections,  was  bitterly  atoned  for. 
Emil's  sudden  death  not  only  altogether  upset  the 
])lans  they  had  been  weaving  for  future  days,  but 
showed  them,  to  their  horror,  that  they  had  calmly 
been  walking  up  to  the  brink  of  a  precipice  while 
looking  up  at  the  clouds  instead  of  down  at  their  feet. 

But  Augusta  did  not  lose  courage  ;  she  again  set 
about  making  feather  flowers,  and  was  glad  to  get  her 
old  customers.  She  also  induced  her  husband  to  give 
up  his  politics,  and  managed  this  more  by  the  example 
of  her  own  indomitable  industry  than  by  talking. 
Fortunately  Herr  Weigelt  had  not  become  riveted  to 
those  political  principles  of  his,  and  was  led  back  to 
the  right  path.  Moreover,  old  Herr  Bergfeldt  was  no 
longer  able  of  an  evening  to  audit  the  books  of  trades- 
people and  others,  as  he  had  formerly  done  ;  so  Au- 
gusta persuaded  her  husband  to  undertake  this  work 
and  to  divide  the  money  with  her  father.  When  Wei- 
gelt no  longer  associated  with  those  political  criminals 
he  gradually  became  ashamed  of  his  former  credulity, 
and  came  to  see  that  he  hadn't  exactly  a  talent  for 
governing. 

Frau  Bergfeldt  had  taken  to  letting  out  her  rooms  • 
hitherto  she  has  been  rather  unfortunate  with  the  oc- 
cupants of  her  furnished  apartments.  The  first  of 
them  made  off  suddenly  with  all  his  goods  and  chattels, 
without  having  paid  for  his  last  month's  residence,  in 
addition  to  other  expenses  she  had  incurred  for  him 
and  a  couple  of  crowns  he  had  borrowed.  Her  present 
lodger,  she  is  afraid,  may  act  in  a  similar  way,  so  she 
has  run  a  tape  through  the  keyhole,  and  fastened  the 
one  end  to  the  young  man's  box.  At  night  she  ties  the 
other  end  round  her  own  wrist,  so  that  she  may  be 
sure  to  wake  if  he  tries  to   make  off  on  the  sly.     In 


234  Soj/ie  curious-looking  Material. 

October  they  are  going  to  move  to  the  Dorotheen 
Strasse,  where  rooms  are  more  easily  let,  owing  to  its 
being  near  the  university  ;  it  is  a  favourite  quarter 
with  the  students,  into  whose  receptive  minds  the  Pro- 
fessors strew  the  seeds  of  learning  which  have  then  to 
be  well  watered  with  beer,  both  morning  and  evening, 
in  order  to  flourish.  It  did  occur  to  me  to  recommend 
Herr  Kleines  to  them,  but  luckily,  upon  second 
thoughts,  J  knew  this  would  not  do,  as  they  were  not 
at  all  suited  to  each  other.  Herr  Kleines  is  much  the 
same  as  he  was,  and  Herr  Pfeiffer,  too,  has  not  become 
any  steadier. 

One  day  lately  I  went  to  see  Augusta  Weigelt,  and 
found  her  dressed  in  mourning,  but  busily  at  work. 
She  was  not,  however,  manufacturing  flowers,  but  was 
stitching  away  at  some  very  curious-looking  material. 
"  Whatever's  that  going  to  be  when  finished  ?  "  I  asked. 
*'  A  little  dress  for  our  boy." — "  But  tell  me,  where 
ever  did  you  get  that  extraordinary  stuff  with  its  odd 
stripes  ;  I  never  saw  any  material  like  it  in  my  life." 
Augusta's  face  coloured  up.  "  Well,  why  should  I  not 
tell  you  !  "  she  answered  after  a  little  ;  "  it's  the  cov- 
ering of  those  blue  silk  umbrellas  the  money-lender 
made  us  take.  The  things  were  so  peculiar-looking, 
we  couldn't  have  used  them  in  the  streets.  But  now 
I've  got  what  I  wanted,"  she  added,  sadly,  but  smiling 
too  ;  "  my  little  ones  will  both  have  silk  frocks  !  " 

"  Better  days  will  come,"  said  I  encouragingly. — 
'' Let  us  hope  so,"  replied  Augusta  ;  "but  they  won't 
come  of  themselves.  So  I've  taken  to  using  my  old 
magic  words  again:  *  dalli,  dalli,'  I  keep  saying  to 
m}^self  from  morning  to .  night,  and  if  only  v/e  live  a 
little  more  sparingly  than  we  actually  need  to,  for  a 
couple  of  years,  we  shall  get  out  of  all  our  difficulties. 
Oh,  Frau  Buchholz,  how  gladly  I  would  starve,  if  only 


Old  Hcrr  Bergfeldt.  235 

my  poor  brother  were  still  alive."  She  began  to  cry. 
"  You  must  forget  that  trouble." — "  Never,"  she  re- 
plied ;  "  he  was  such  a  good,  kind  fellow." — "  But  )'Ou 
have  got  your  children,  you  must  live  wholly  for  them 
now." 

"  I  mean  to  teach  them  to  work  and  to  be  content," 
said  Augusta  ;  "  everything  else  in  life  is  vanity  ;  we 
have  learned  that."  Thereupon  she  took  up  her  needle 
again  and  stitched  away  eagerly,  as  if  she  had  had  to 
make  up  for  lost  time. 

Suddenly  she  stopped  and  listened.  **  There  is 
father,"  she  said,  and  hurried  to  meet  old  Herr 
Bergfeldt,  who  was  slowly  hobbling  up  the  stairs.  He 
had  become  quite  grey-headed,  and  looked  an  old  man. 
"  Where  is  Emil  ? "  he  asked,  after  having  bowed  to 
me  in  an  unconscious  kind  of  way. 

Augusta  went  out  and  fetched  little  Franz.  "There 
you  are,  Emil,  dear  boy  !  "  said  the  old  man  in  a  fond- 
ling tone  of  voice,  as  the  child  came  climbing  up  on 
to  his  knee.  Augusta  whispered  to  me  :  "  He  doesn't 
always  remember  things  properly,  and  often  speaks  to 
our  little  Franz  as  if  he  were  Emil.  We  never  take 
any  notice."  She  had  ordered  coffee  for  her  old  father, 
for  he  always  came  in  about  this  time  to  play  with 
the  boy. 

With  a  trembling  hand  the  old  man  offered  the  boy 
a  drink  out  of  his  cup,  and  said:  "Do  you  like  it, 
Em.il?"  "It's  jolly!"  replied  the  boy.  That  was  just 
what  Emil  used  to  say,  when  he  was  that  age. 

Little  Franz,  after  having  a  little  coffee,  brought  out 
all  his  treasures,  all  sorts  of  broken  rubbish,  but  the 
grandfather  knew  the  name  of  every  single  piece  as 
well  as  the  boy.  They  had  a  headless  doll  that  they 
called  the  Princess  Vallera,  and  one  remaining  nincpin 
was  the  gunner  Snip  Snap  ;    these  two  lived  together 


236  Abo7(t  a  Political  Rhyine 

in  a  box  that  I  seemed  to  recognise.  And  to  be  sure 
it  was  the  little  organ.  "  Is  the  music  all  out  of  it  al- 
ready ? "  I  asked.  "  It  did  not  last  long,"  was  her  an- 
swer ;  '■'■  it  could  not  stand  the  inspections  made  into 
its  interior.  I  myself  am  glad  that  there  is  now  an 
end  to  its  squeaking,  it  reminded  me  too  much  of  my 
high-flown  ideas.  For  keeping  the  children's  toys  in, 
it  is  most  useful." 

In  watching  the  mischievous  little  pickle  carefully, 
it  did  seem  to  me  as  if  he  were  a  little  like  what  Emil 
had  been,  especially  when  brimful  of  life  and  spirits  ; 
however,  the  resemblance  was  not  so  great  for  any  one 
to  have  mistaken  them  as  old  Herr  Bergfeldt  did. 

Augusta  begged  me  to  take  no  notice  of  them,  as 
they  were  always  happier  by  themselves  ;  this  I  was 
the  more  willing  to  do  as  I  saw  clearly  that  the  old 
man  had  himself  become  a  child  again.  When  the  boy 
became  more  and  more  uproarious,  Augusta  called  him 
to  come  and  have  his  frock  tried  on.  It  fitted  him 
very  nicely,  but  the  little  fellow  looked  like  a  blue  ze- 
bra in  it.  He  did  not  mind  that,  however,  and  stalked 
about  singing  : 

"  Culture  vnVi.  make  us  free, 
Strike  down  the  doors  for  me." 

"  What  in  the  world  is  that  verse  the  child  has  got 
hold  of  ?"  I  asked.  "  It's  a  stupid  old  rhyme  my  hus- 
band used  to  sing  when  he  attended  his  political  club. 
The  words  are  really  :  '  Culture  will  make  us  free, 
down  with  tyranny  ' — Franz,  will  you  be  quiet  !  "  The 
old  man  called  the  boy  to  him,  and  I  got  up  to  leave. 
"Do  not  be  discouraged  about  things,"  said  I,  in  bid- 
ding Augusta  good-bye.  Her  reply  was,  "  I  live  in 
hope  and  trust." 

As  the   Krauscs  are  related   to  Erica,   wc  unfortu- 


and  Special  Professions.  237 

nately  cannot  prevent  them  becoming  a  little  more 
intimate  with  us,  but  I  mean  to  set  up  a  landmark,  to 
fix  the  boundary  beyond  which  they  shall  not  be  al- 
lowed to  trespass. 

Eduard  does  really  seem  to  be  improving  since  he 
left  the  High  School,  and  is  no  longer  plagued  with 
those  dead  languages.  And,  after  all,  studying  may 
not  suit  every  one  ;  and  perhaps  many  do  not  know 
this  till  they  are  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  it  is  too  late  to 
begin  a  new  occupation,  either  because  they're  too 
grown-up,  or  have  become  spoiled  for  other  work.  In 
the  latter  case  they  will  be  crippled  for  life,  like  Herr 
Weigelt,  and  their  work  will  be  neither  one  thing  nor 
another. 

If  Eduard  becomes  a  sailor,  that  will  be  far  more  ra- 
tional than  for  him  to  be  for  ever  at  sixes  and  sevens 
with  himself  and  the  world;  for  any  one  who  has  been 
forced  to  take  up  some  special  profession,  will  have 
perpetually  to  act  against  his  own  inclination.  And 
yet  any  other  occupations  will  then  rarely  be  genteel 
enough;  nowadays  everybody  wants  to  be  at  the  top 
of  the  tree,  and  to  go  up  by  balloon. 

Herr  Krause  has  a  much  greater  influence  upon  the 
boy  than  formerly,  and  told  me  that  if  Eduard  only 
keeps  as  he  is,  he  hopes  the  boy  may  yet  turn  out  a 
useful  member  of  society.  This  could  not  but  be  wel- 
come news  to  us,  owing  to  our  connection  with  the 
family;  and  I  do  not  mean  to  make  any  further  ado 
about  his  once  having  had  to  work  the  treadmill;  for 
I  have  learned  by  experience  how  easily  one  may  be 
drawn  from  the  quietest  of  existences  into  publicity, 
and  have  an  action  brought  against  one. 

What  really  occurred  to  make  Eduard  give  up  that 
habit  of  disobedience  which  the  mother  had  always 
encouraged  in  him,  no  one  here  has  ever  managed  to 


8  The   Wedding  Prese?its. 


find  out,  because  old  Herr  Krause  is  absolutely  silent 
on  the  point.  When  I  asked  Frau  Krause  one  day 
what  Eduard  had  really  been  about  in  Hamburg,  she 
told  me  some  story  about  robbers,  which  she  may 
believe  herself,  but  can  hardly  expect  other  people  to  be- 
lieve. She  said  the  boy  wanted  so  much  to  see  the  great 
ocean,  and  when  he  got  to  Hamburg  the  captain  of 
some  slave  ship  got  hold  of  him,  and  kept  him  a  pris- 
oner between  the  decks  for  two  whole  days,  probably 
intending  to  carry  him  off  to  the  South  Seas.  But  his 
father  fortunately  found  him  in  the  nick  of  time. 
"  That  was  a  great  mercy,"  said  I;  "  for  if  the  ship  had 
started,  Herr  Krause  would,  no  doubt,  have  had  to 
swim  after  it." 

My  goodness  !  the  face  she  made  at  that. 

Uncle  Fritz  has  furnished  his  house  quite  nicely  for 
the  time  being.  Certain  things  I  did  find  wanting, 
when  he  came  and  fetched  me  to  have  a  look  at  it;  but 
he  told  me  that  he  was  looking  forward  to  going  about 
with  his  young  wife  and  purchasing,  by  degrees,  all 
that  they  might  want.  I  could  not  but  admit  that  he  was 
acting  wisely  in  this,  for  I  remember  Carl  and  I  had, 
at  first,  to  accommodate  ourselves  to  circumstances. 

And  we  fixed  upon  our  wedding  present  for  them,  in 
accordance  with  these  arrangements;  above  all  things, 
we  decided  to  give  no  more  plated  goods,  but  the  gen- 
uine article.  Dr.  Wrenzchen  was  very  generous,  and 
presented  them  with  an  ornamental  clock  ;  Betti 
worked  them  a  sofa  cushion;  and  Fritz's  vocal  society. 
The  Whooping  Cough,  who  knew  his  tastes,  sent  him 
on  the  evening  before  his  departure  for  Lingen  a 
punch-bowl  and  two  dozen  glasses;  one  dozen  for  use, 
the  second  as  a  reserve.  I  gave  him,  in  addition,  a 
large  packet  of  bonbons  and  sweets  for  Erica's  younger 
brothers  and  sisters,  in  order  that  the  poor  little  things 


Carl  Carries  out  a  Plan.  239 

mightn't  be  altogether  forgotten.  "Fritz,"  said  I,  "be 
sure  and  write  soon  and  tell  us  how  things  go  off."— 
"  If  I  have  time,  and  manage  to  get  away  without 
broken  bones." — "  Be  sure  to  be  attentive  to  the  grand- 
mother."— "  Didn't  we  get  on  famously  the  last  evening 
we  spent  together  ?  " 

The  train  was  moving  off.  I  wanted  to  call  out,  as 
my  last  words,  "  Speed  away  to  your  happiness,  dear 
boy,"  but  he  was  already  too  far  off. 

Uncle  Fritz  was  hurrying  away  towards  Lingen,  and 
as  v/e  did  not  wish  his  wedding-day  to  pass  without 
any  celebration,  I  proposed  to  avail  ourselves  of  the 
fine  weather  and  have  an  excursion  somewhere.  "  What 
do  you  say,  Betti,  to  our  going  out  to  Tegel  again  ?  " — 
"Tegel  !  "  she  replied  in  a  curious  tone  of  voice, — "oh 
yes,  if  you  like." 

If  I  liked  !  Why,  Carl  and  I  had  long  since  settled 
our  plan,  which  was  now  about  to  be  carried  out.  The 
plan  was  my  idea;  Carl  it  was  who  had  to  see  that  it 
was  carried  out  properly  to  the  minute. 

It  was  afternoon.  We  had  been  sitting  in  the  woods 
where  there  was  a  view  across  the  lake,  and  as  I  had 
long  since  determined  some  day  to  have  a  picnic  at 
this  point,  a  hamper  with  good  things  was  provided. 
Betti  was  rather  monosyllabic  ;  perhaps  she  was  think- 
ing how  happy  we  had  all  once  been  in  these  woods, 
which  we  were  to-day  trying  to  enjoy  again. 

My  husband  was  rather  quiet  too,  for  he  knew  what 
was  about  to  occur  within  the  next  quarter  of  an  hour, 
and  did  not  feel  quite  sure  how  things  would  go.  I, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  no  doubts  whatever,  or  why 
should  I  have  chosen  Tegel  ?  The  Present  was  to  be 
linked  with  the  Past ;  what  lay  between  was  a  winter's 
day.  Where  are  frost  and  snow,  when  the  hawthorn 
blooms  again  ?     Forgotten  ! 


240  Betti  i)i  a  Dream. 

Carl  kept  taking  out  his  watch,  and  looked  anxiously 
out  on  to  the  lake  ;  then  we  both  saw  a  boat  leave 
the  opposite  shore  and  steer  straight  across  towards 
the  woods  where  we  were  sitting.  "  I  wonder  if  those 
people  are  coming  to  us  ?"  said  I,  as  if  I  knew  some- 
thing. "  It  looks  like  it,"  said  Carl.  "  You  know,"  he 
added,  "how  much  I  am  in  want  of  a  partner;  the 
business  requires  increased  support."  The  boat  was 
coming  nearer.  "  I  have  found  some  one  in  whom  I 
place  full  confidence,  but  I  wanted  to  know  whether 
he  pleased  you  both  as  well."  With  this  he  looked  at 
Betti.  "My  decision  will  depend  upon  your  judg- 
ment. This  was  my  reason  for  asking  him  to  join  us 
here  to-day.     Here  he  is." 

The  boat  came  flying  onwards,  rowed  b}'  powerful 
arms,  and  at  last  shot  up  on  to  the  beach.  Betti  had 
jumped  up,  and  stood  immovable  ;  she  had  recog- 
nised the  two  men  in  the  boat,  Felix  and  Max — the 
two  friends. 

With  quick  and  elastic  steps  Herr  Felix  hurried  up 
to  Betti,  stretching  out  both  hands  towards  her,  and 
she,  as  if  in  a  dream,  laid  hers  in  h'.s.  "  Ah,  ha  !  it's  to 
be  '■  Buchholz  and  Son,'  after  all,"  said  I  in  a  whisper 
to  Cart.     He  only  smiled. 

When  we  returned  through  the  woods,  the  lovers  in 
front,  Carl  carrying  the  hamper,  and  Herr  Max  and  I 
as  rear  guard,  I  said  to  him:  "Are  you  satisfied 
nov/  ?  " — "  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  most  heartily,  for  my 
friend  is  happy." — "  And  you  deserve  to  become  hap- 
py, too  ;  I  will  help  you  to  find  as  charming  a  bride  as 
you  could  wish." 

"You  are  really  very  good,"  he  replied,  "  but  unfor- 
tunately your  offer  comes  a  little  late  ;  I  have  found 
one  already." 

"  Well,  I  never — you  too  !  "  I  said,  laughing  ;  "  now 


Amanda  Knlccke.  241 

remember,  Frau  Buchholz  is  dying  to  be  introduced  to 
her." 

When  Betti's  engagement  was  made  known,  every- 
body came  to  offer  their  congratulations.  The  Police- 
lieutenant's  wife  seemed  very  much  surprised,  and  said 
that  she  supposed  as  Herr  Felix  Schmidt  was  to  be- 
come a  partner,  that  the  marriage  was  one  of  conven- 
ience more  especially.  My  reply  was  that  convenience 
had  certainly  something  to  do  with  it. 

Wichmann  Leuenfels  sent  Betti  his  good  wishes  in 
rhyme,  which  amused  us  very  much,  for  they  were 
quite  idiotic.  He  is  at  present  writing  criticisms  on 
every  conceivable  subject,  especially  about  things  he 
doesn't  understand,  and  is  said  to  have  already  suc- 
ceeded in  making  people  pretty  well  afraid  of  him. 
•  Amanda  Kulecke  came  also.  "  Child,"  she  said  to 
Betti,  "  you  are  really  to  be  envied.  You  are  going  to 
marry  the  man  you  love.  You  look  the  very  picture 
of  a  happy  bride,  and  he's  good-looking,  too,  that 
must  be  confessed."  Betti  threw  her  arms  round  her 
friend  and  kissed  her. 

*'  It  is  time  that  the  sons  of  our  country  took  a  look 
at  me,"  Amanda  continued.  ''One  did  present  him- 
self the  other  day,  it  is  true,  but  he  didn't  take  my 
fancy  ;  I  cannot  bear  small  men,  and  he  had  a  bald 
head  into  the  bargain."  I  could  never  tell  whether  she 
meant  to  be  serious  or  not,  or  whether  she  was  having 
a  laugh  at  herself  ;  this  much  is  certain,  any  one  of  the 
many  pale-faced  fashionable  youths  of  the  day  she 
would  rather  see  starve,  than  move  an  arm  towards 
them.  She  is  too  repellant,  in  spite  of  her  really  ex- 
cellent heart.     It  is  a  pity  for  the  girl. 

A  few  days  afterwards  we  got   our  first  letter  from 
Uncle  Fritz,  dated  from  Rudesheim.    "  He  has  lost  his 
reason,"  I  called  out.     "  Carl,  just  read  this  nonsense." 
16 


242  Frits  and  Erica. 


— "Dear  Wilhelm,"  he  wrote,  "here  we  are  at  the 
Rhine.  It  is  considerably  larger  than  the  Spree.  I 
do  not  yet  know  whether  its  waters  are  wet,  for  I 
haven't  tried  them.  Yesterday  I  put  Erica  right  on  the 
top  of  the  Lorelei  Rock,  where  she  blew  a  tune  upon 
a  golden  comb  ;  I,  with  Baedeker  under  my  arms,  sat 
in  a  little  boat  listening  to  her.  This  .picture  was  so 
exceedingly  effective  that  all  the  steamers  stopped  and 
blocked  up  the  river,  and  police  on  horseback  had  to 
plunge  into  the  Rhine  and  make  them  move  on.  Wil- 
helm, won't  you  come  to  us  ;  we'll  give  a  repetition  of 
the  magic  scene,  and  you  shall  play  the  accompani- 
ment on  an  accordion. — Uncle  Fritz." 

"  He  must  have  had  a  sunstroke,"  I  exclaimed. 
"  Carl,  what  do  you  think  ? " — "  Wait,  there's  something 
on  the  other  side  of  the  page,"  said  Carl,  shaking  his 
head.  "What  is  it,  Carl  ?  I  really  feel  quite  anxious  ; 
he  has  never  shown  himself  as  mad  as  that."  Carl 
read  :  "  Dear  Frau  Buchholz,  would  it  be  possible  for 
you  to  come  here  to  the  Rhine  and  pay  a  visit  to  two 
supremely  happy  children,  who  wish  to  show  you  their 
gratitude  for  all  your  love  and  kindness  to  them  ;  they 
want  to  tell  you  over  and  over  again  how  inexpressi- 
bly happy  they  are.  We  think  of  you  everyday  ;  how 
highly  Fritz  speaks  of  you,  and  how  dearly  I  shall 
love  you.  Do  come  !  Oh,  do  come  !  How  beautiful 
this  world  is.  Why  cannot  we  have  you  with  us  ? — 
Yours,  Erica." 

"Do  you  know,  Carl,"  said  I,  "when  Fritz  wants  to 
express  any  affection  for  me,  he  always  does  exactly 
the  reverse  of  what  an  apothecary  does  with  his  pills, 
he  puts  his  sugary  stuff  inside,  and  leaves  the  bitter 
stuff  outside.  This  much  I  can  see,  however,  that  if 
ever  two  human  beings  were  happy  on  their  wedding 
trip,  it's  Fritz  and  Erica." 


Again  Alojie.  243 


I  could  not  leave  home,  however.  The  preparations 
for  Betti's  wedding  in  the  autumn  have  to  be  attended 
to;  the  twins,  too,  have  claims  upon  my  time,  and  ex- 
perience has  taught  me  that  everything  is  apt  to  get 
topsy-turvy  when  I'm  away.  The  wedding  is  to  be  a 
very  quiet  one;  this  is  Betti's  own  wish. 

Our  house  will  then  be  big  and  empty  again,  as  it 
was  when  we  first  came  to  it.  The  children  are  away; 
we  can  no  longer  hear  their  steps,  or  the  sound  of 
their  voices — they  have  flown  away,  like  birds  out  of  a 
nest.  It  has  become  silent,  and  we  are  again  alone, 
my  Carl  and  I — alone,  just  as  in  those  first  days.  J^.Iy 
bridal  wreath  was  green  then;  when  the  elder-tree 
blooms  again,  I  shall  have  my  silver  wreath. 


The    Buchholz   Family, 

SJcetcJies  of  Berlin  Life. 
By     J  XJ  L  I  XJ  S     S  T  I  N  DE. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 


From    the    DEUTSCHE    RUNDSCHAU. 

"  The  social  grade  personified  in  this  middle-class  lady  is  drawn  with 
such  perfect  truth  to  nature  that  it  may  pass  for  a  photograph.  The  author 
indicates  clearly  and  minutely  all  that  goes  to  make  up  her  moral  and 
intellectual  being,  the  sources  from  which  she  drew  her  culture,  by  what 
means  and  through  what  causes  she  attained  her  views,  on  what  she  formed 
her  opinions,  and  how  she  maintained  the  same.  Every  phase  of  Berlin 
middle-class  life  is  treated  with  exhaustive  thoroughness,  and  its  relation 
to  God  and  to  the  world,  to  the  State  and  Society,  to  marriage,  the 
family,  birth  and  death,  are  given  so  truly  and  vividly  that  the  reader  once 
for  all  finds  out  where  he  is,  and  the  occasional  exaggerations  and  improb- 
abilities do  not  come  into  consideration.  .  .  .  Karl  and  Wilhclmine 
Buchholz,  Wrcnzchen  and  Uncle  Fritz,  the  Krauses,  Weigelts,  and  the 
Police-lieutenant  and  his  wife,  are  all  people  who  are  equal  to  their  parts, 
and  capable  of  maintaining  their  position,  and  know  pretty  well  that  a 
German  exists  first  of  all  to  fulfil  his  duty,  or — to  put  it  in  Berlin  fashion — 
that  business  comes  first  and  pleasure  afterwards." — Jttnc,  1886. 


From    BLACKWOOD'S    MAGAZINE. 

"Our  author  neither  theorizes,  nor  teaches,  nor  moralizes.  From  the 
dense  bewildering  throng  of  human  actors  in  the  human  drama,  he  has 
singled  out  one  tiny  group  for  study  of  an  almost  scientific  accuracy  and 
thoroughness,  and  has  then  fused  his  observations  into  such  a  living  picture 
as  only  a  true  artist  can  create.  His  sketches  are  vigorous,  reahstic,  and 
racy  ;  they  sparkle  with  bright  fun  and  joyousness.  .  .  .  The  book  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  label  or  pigeon-hole.  It  is  not  a  novel.  A  slender 
thread  of  story  indeed  runs  through  these  semi-detached  sketches,  and 
upon  it  arc  loosely  strung  a  series  of  highly  diversified  scenes  and  situ- 
ations ;  but  each  chapter  is  a  study  almost  complete  in  itself.  Light  and 
airy  though  they  be  on  the  surface,  a  great  deal  of  fine  painstaking  work- 
manship has  gone  into  Dr.  Stinde's  volumes.  In  their  homeliness,  their 
truthfulness,  their  realism,  and  their  elaborate  detail,  his  pictures  are  of  the 
Dutch  school."— ^/r?/,  1886. 


By  the  Author  of  "How  to  be  Happy  Though  Married." 


"Manners  Makyth  Man. 

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Worran's  Work — to  Please.  The  Wisdom  of  the  Foolish. 

Mind  Who  You  Marry.  "God  Almighty's  Gentleman." 

Keeping  Up  Appearances.  Matrimonial  Manners. 

Travelling  with  Advantage.  Family  Government. 

Only  Temper.  Money  is  Character. 

Vital  Force.  Conversation. 

Only  Trifles.  Vainglorious. 

Success  in  Life.  Housekeeping. 

What  Is  Religion  ?  About  Reading. 

The  Wise  Man's  Conclusion.  Tippling. 

Wanted — A  Man.  Misapplied  Virtues. 

A  Husband-and-Wife  Mutual  In  all  Time  of  Our  Wealth, 

[Improvement  Society.  How  Do  You  Do  ? 


The  author  of  "How  to  he  Happy  Though  Married,"  has 
written  his  second  work  in  the  same  bright  and  entertaining 
manner  that  won  for  his  former  hook  such  wholesome  praise 
and  so  large  a  circle  of  readers,  and  the  reception  that  will 
he  accorded  his  latest  work  promises  to  be  no  less  flattering* 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  sent,  post-paid,  hy  the  publishers, 

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^  l^EAUTIFUL  U^EIV  EDITION, 


By  FRANK  R.  STOCKTON. 

IIjI-i"U"  STRUTTED     I3Y      A..     B.     FPtoST, 

~f 

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Stockton's  fancies,  which  will  delight  every  appreciative  reader, — - 
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--    '/ 

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THE  MERRY  MEN, 

And    Other    Tales    and   Fables. 
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THRAWN  JANET.  MARKHEIM. 

WILL  O'  THE  MILL.  THE  TREASURE  OF  FRANCHARD. 

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substantially  agree  it  is  Mr.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  There  is  somethinr^  in  his  work, 
precisely  what,  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  which  engages  and  fixes  the  attention  from  the 
first  page  to  the  last,  which  shapes  itself  before  the  mind's  eye  while  reading,  and 
which  refuses  to  be  forgotten  long  after  the  book  which  revealed  it  has  been  closed 
and  put  away.  There  is  a  power  of  a  grim  sort  on  every  page  of  this  curious  story 
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A  CHILD'S  GARDEN  OF  VERSES. 

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power,  but  combined  with  a  graphic  lealism  that  immensely  heightens  the  effect, 
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Mother  of  Pearl.  What  Was  It 

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THE    LADY,    OR   THE   TIGER? 

AND     OTHER     STORIES. 

By  frank  R.  STOCKTON. 

CONT£NTS: 

The  Lady,  or  the  Tiger  ?  Our  Story. 

The  Transferred  Ghost.  Mr.  Tolman. 

The  Spectral  Mortgage.  On  the  Training  of  Parents. 

Our  Archery  Club.  Our  Fire-screen. 

That  Same  Old  'Coon.  A  Piece  of  Red  Calico. 

His  Wife's  Deceased  Sister.  Every  Man  His  Own  Letter-writeI 

"  Stockton  has  the  knack,  perhaps  genius  would  be  a  better  word,  of  writing  b 
the  easiest  of  colloquial  English  without  descending  to  the  plane  of  the  vulgar  ol 
common-place.  The  very  perfection  of  his  work  hinders  the  reader  from  per- 
ceiving at  once  how  good  of  its  kind  it  is.  .  .  .  With  the  added  charm  of  a 
most  delicate  humor — a  real  humor,  mellow,  tender,  and  informed  by  a  singularlj^ 
quaint  and  racy  fancy— his  stories  become  irresistibly  attractive." — Philadelphia 
Times, 

THAT    LASS    O'    LOWRIE'S. 

By  FRANCES  HODGSON  BURNETT. 

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the  world  of  hterature." — New  Vori  Herald. 

"  We  know  of  no  more  powerful  work  from  a  woman's  hand  in  the  English 
language,  not  even  excepting  the  best  of  George  Eliot's." — Boston  Transcript. 

"The  best  original  novel  that  has  appeared  in  this  country  for  many  years." — 
Philadelphia  Press. 

SAXE    HOLM  S    STORIES. 


First  Series. 

Dkaxy  ATiller's  Dowrt?^.  The  One-legged  Dancers. 

The  Elde:;'s  Wife.  How  One  Woman  Kept  Her  Husband. 

Whose  Wife  was  She?  Esther  Wynn's  Love-letters. 

Second  Series. 

A  Four-leaved  Clover.  Mv  Tourmaline. 

Farmer  Bassett's  Romance.  Joe  Hale's  Red  Stockings. 

Susan  Lawton's  Escape. 

"  Whoever  is  the  author,  she  is  certainly  entitled  to  the  high  credit  of  writing 
stories  which  charm  by  their  sweetness,  impress  by  their  power,  and  hold  attention 
by  th-ir  OT\i^\na\\iy."— Albany  Arg-us. 

"  The  second  series  of  '  Saxe  Holm's  Stories' well  sustains  the  interest  which 
has  made  the  name  of  the  author  a  subject  of  discussion  with  literary  gossips,  and 
won  the  adniir.iiion  of  intelligent  readers  for  such  attractive  specimens  of  pure 
and  wholesome  fiction." — AVif  Vork  Tribune. 


3 


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